Penn State Field Hockey showed its grit Sunday in the official stadium dedication game honoring Char Morett-Curtiss.
Despite gloomy weather conditions, the No. 19 Nittany Lions won 5-1 against Lafayette. The stadium, which has been in the works for years, was dedicated to the NCAA Division I college program’s longstanding head coach, who retired two seasons ago.
“It’s huge to have her name on the field because she’s given so much of herself to the program and we all love Char,” Penn State Head Coach Lisa Bervinchak Love said about the opening ceremony. “It’s awesome and means a lot.”
Love was Morett-Curtiss’s assistant coach for decades. She took over as head coach in 2023.
To show just how much ‘a lot means’ to the Nittany Lions, the players decided to showcase four goal scorers and a relentless goalie. Of the scorers, one found the cage for the first time this season and one continues to glow in her own personal limelight streak.
It was a slow start for the Nittany Lions [6-3]in the first. They had no shots, but Lafayette [5-2] took two. The score was 0-0 after the first quarter.
An aerial ball in the second was delivered from inside the Leopard’s offensive 23 all the way to Penn State’s attack circle where Morgan McMenamin ran onto it.
McMenamin was pressured by Lafayette’s goalie Raffi Fragomeni, but McMenamin spun to her left around Fragomeni, taking the ball with her. She smacked it into the back of the cage.
The second goal was scored in the second by Penn State’s indomitable leader Phia Gladieux, who plays on another level. She scored twice to keep her scoring streak going in the 2024 Fall season.
The first was a penalty corner conversion: there were 46 seconds left in the second; Gladieux took a shot from the top of the circle; but, it was blocked by Lafayette’s flyer. Gladieux followed up with a rebound shot and ripped a reverse that sent the ball into the net.
“I think her game is going in the right direction and scoring for her is like second nature, but I’m pleased with how she’s bringing the rest of her teammates into her play,” Love said.
One minute into the third, Natalie Freeman took a sliding dive into the circle to knock a ball into the cage. It was assisted by Gladieux and Katelyn Strawser, who worked together to punch the pass into Penn State’s attack circle.
With 9:21 remaining, the blue and white were awarded a corner. Julienne van Bekkum took it and sent it to Gladieux who made a pool bank shot as the ball hit off of a defender stick and went right into the goal.
This put the Nittany Lions up 4-0 as she got her 15th goal of the season. This goal also put Gladieux one away from tying the Penn State record of career goals.
Penn State capitalized on another corner after an initial shot, van Bekkum took another to send it to the bottom left corner past Fragomeni. The goal was unassisted, leading to a score of 5-0.
The second and fourth quarters were the best offensive quarters for Penn State. However, Lafayette stayed in the game all 60 minutes, nabbing one goal in the fourth.
Penn State goalie Aby Deverka remained her composed self. With 3:30 left in the third, Lafayette earned four consecutive penalty corners. Deverka made key saves in all of the corners, ending her time in goal facing 12 shots.
Lauren Delgado checked in at goal for the Nittany Lions in the fourth.
Lafayette was very good at controlling the game, but they weren’t able to capitalize. Still, they played like they didn’t want a shut out. Emma Maher took a shot late in the fourth aimed at the bottom right of the cage where Lineke Spaans picked up it up to make the score 5-1.
The Nittany Lions will look to keep up their momentum in two Big 10 contests on the road: Iowa and Northwestern.
“We’re trying to set the tone of the game super early, but I think we’re really excited, especially going against such big teams,” Deverka said about the upcoming schedule. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to see how good we are, and it’s going to be exciting.”
Photo: Mark Selders, Penn State Athletics
By FAN – US
