Sept. 24, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's soccer team was defeated 2-1 by No. 7 Penn State in Big Ten action today in State College, Penn. The loss drops Purdue to 7-3 on the season and 2-2 in the Big Ten while Penn State improves to 8-2-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
"We played very hard today," Purdue head coach Rob Klatte said. "The girls really battled, and today was a great opportunity for us to improve our game. We learned a lot, and with that comes knowing what we can do better because we can always be better."
The Boilermakers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard with the game's first goal coming at the 6:16 mark. Freshman forward Courtney Coppedge converted a pass from sophomore midfielder Jessica Baumhoff and junior midfielder Tari St. John to make the score 1-0. The goal was Coppedge's fifth of the season, making her the leading Boilermaker scorer, while Baumhoff and St. John notched their second assists of the year.
The Nittany Lions finally came through when, at the 41:44 mark, sophomore Christie Welsch broke away from the pack and netted her 10th goal of the year. Junior Megan Mills was credited with the assist.
In the second half, Penn State scored the game-winning goal during the 80th minute when freshman Joanna Lohman tallied her second goal of the year off of passes from Welsh and senior Erin Miller.
"Penn State is a great team and their comeback from our lead shows that," Klatte said. "They're ranked seventh in the country and for us to have come out and played this well today shows our heart and hard work."
The game also proved to be a typical Big Ten physical contest. Penn State outfouled the Boilermakers 10-8. Purdue goalkeeper Elizabeth Boldt went out in the 35th minute with a head laceration. She did not return to the game and the cut to her forehead required several stitches. Junior Kerry Maloney racked up her second yellow card of the season in the 74th minute.
"Today's game was very physical," Klatte said. "We've prepared for the conference season knowing that it would be and today was just the way we anticipated. Unfortunately, losing Liz will have an impact on the team. She'll be missed, but hopefully she can have a speedy recovery and we'll get her back in the game and the goal soon."
Overall, Purdue's offensive numbers did not reflect its hard work and effort. The Lions outshot the Boilermakers 19-2. Penn State totaled 14 corner kicks compared to Purdue's three.
During her 35 minutes of play, Boldt had six saves and allowed no goals. Junior backup goalkeeper Sharon Sadowski finished the game with 55 minutes of play, four saves and two goals allowed. Her goals-against average stands at 2.74.
Purdue will continue its conference schedule as it hosts Michigan State at the Varsity Soccer Complex on Friday, Sept. 29. Game time is slated for 4 p.m.