No. 21 West Virginia went on the road for the first time this season looking to upset No. 14 Penn State in University Park.
Instead, the Mountaineers went score-less for the second time in three matches, falling to the Nittany Lions 2-0.
The first half saw both teams go score-less, heading into the break drawing 0-0. The Nittany Lions led the shots 11-4 at half. The Mountaineers didn’t register their first shot of the game until the 21st minute.
Kayza Massey made several impressive stops in the first half to keep Penn State scoreless, including a last second stop off a West Virginia defensive breakdown.
For the first 16 minutes of the second half, the score stayed the same until Penn State’s Jordan Canniff put one in the top right corner on a volley off a pass from Payton Linnehan to open the scoring.
Penn State would double their lead 15 minutes later when Meike Schiemann put another one in the top left corner to make it 2-0 on an assist from Penelope Hocking.
Things would only get worse for the Mountaineers here, as in the 84th minute, Mountaineer forward Dilary Heredia-Beltran was sent off.
At the end of the match the Nittany Lions outshot West Virginia 17-9.
This is the Mountaineers’ second straight loss to Penn State and fourth in their last five matchups with one draw. WVU hasn’t beaten the Nittany Lions since the 2017 season when they defeated them 2-1 in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers will head home again for their next match, taking on Saint Francis at Dick Dlesk Stadium at 1 p.m.
Photo from WVUSports.com
