Women’s Soccer: Mountaineers Surrender Lead
February 28, 2009 10:11 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
February 28, 2009
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| Mischler |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The West Virginia University women’s soccer team squandered its halftime lead in falling to host Penn State, 3-1, Friday evening at Holuba Hall, the Nittany Lion’s indoor practice facility.
Sophomore Megan Mischler, who missed the final eight games of 2008 with a broken fibula, put the Mountaineers on top, 1-0, with a goal in the 26th minute. The speedy forward beat a PSU defender and sent a ball towards the top right corner from 18-yards out.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kerri Butler worked a scoreless first half and junior goalkeeper Mallory Beck worked the second half for WVU.
Penn State’s Danielle Toney tied the match roughly 10 minutes into the second half on a goal at the top of the 18-yard box.
The Nittany Lions added a goal three minutes later when Katie Schoepfer was left unmarked and finished a cross to take a 2-1 lead.
Mischler was unlucky in the second half, sending the ball off the cross bar in the 61st minute and found the post in the 62nd minute.
Penn State completed its scoring with a goal in the 78th minute.
West Virginia traveled 16 healthy players with all 16 seeing action on Friday. Mischler, junior Carolyn Blank and junior Nicole Mailloux gave strong performances for the Mountaineers.
WVU returns home for its annual 4-versus-4 tournament to raise funds for the Betty Puskar Breast Care Center on Sunday, March 1. More than 65 teams will compete in the “Three’s a Team…the Fourth’s a Mountaineer” all-day event at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility.
Sunday’s tournament is the first half of WVU’s spring efforts to kick breast cancer and raise awareness about the disease. West Virginia will play BIG EAST foe Pitt in the sixth annual Betty Puskar Breast Care Center Soccer Invitational on April 4, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Over the past five years, the WVU women’s soccer team has raised more than $36,000 to help fight breast cancer.
