Spartan Field Hockey Falls To No. 6 Penn State

Oct. 16, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Jessica Miller gave the Spartans an early 1-0 advantage in Saturday's field hockey contest against No. 6 Penn State in Happy Valley, wizzing a shot past Megan Akstin from the top of the circle just 1:37 into the game, but the Nittany Lions rallied and toughened up the defense in the second half to pull out a 2-1 win over Michigan State. The Green and White will regroup, taking on Northwestern in East Lansing next Saturday, Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m.

The Nittany Lions' Shaun Banta tied the score at 1-1 at 13:12 with a score from the left side, where the game would remain knotted one all for the majority of the game. State would find that scoring opportunities were few and far between as the No. 1 Big Ten Penn State defense tightened up, allowing only one second half shot. On the day, the Nittany Lions out shot Michigan State, 11-7.

Penn State didn't take the lead until the 53rd minute, when Sara Cahill beat Christina Kirkaldy and the Spartan defense, but it managed to cling on to the 2-1 advantage, beating State for the first time since 2000.

The win was Penn State's 14th straight, as it improved its record to 14-1, 4-0 in Big Ten play. The Spartans fall to 9-7 and are still in search of their first conference win (0-4).