12 I Monday, Sept. 27,2010
Coach returns to alma mater, Lions finish top 10
By Stephen Pianovich
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Beth Alford-Sullivan is no
stranger to Minnesota.
The coach of the Nittany Lions
men’s and
women’s cross- .
country teams CROS»
was once a COUNTRY
Golden Gopher =—=
and captained her
cross-country team for three sea
sons.
Alford-Sullivan returned to
Defense
From Page 10.
All-American, to one shot a
desperation volley with 13 sec
onds left.
“She’s their main player, she’s
the key to their success,” junior
centre back Emma Thomson
said.
“She scores everything, she’s
their playmaker. That was our
main key, to keep her off the ball,
to limit her touches as much as
possible and we did it.”
Michigan State’s (5-3-1, 0-1-0)
formation put Heyboer at left
striker, meaning Thomson had
the unenviable task of trailing the
Spartan for most of the game.
The rest of the back line
Carly Niness, Bri Hovington and
Jackie Molinda stepped in
every time Heyboer got the ball,
and the Lions midfield dropped to
help as well. Molinda, malring her
first collegiate start, shut down
Michigan State’s right outside
midfielders all day.
Aside from the defense, the
Lions fielded two holding mid
fielders, giving the team a six
player unit focused on shutting
down Heyboer.
“It’s just always knowing
where she is and communicating
among the back six and [goal
keeper] Krissy [Tribbett],” Naim
said.
“Not letting her turn and spin
us, she had her chances unfortu
nately just couldn’t put them
away, which was fortunate for us
but we’ll take that.”
Penn State’s lone goal came in
the 20th minute when forward
Maya Hayes was taken down
from behind well inside the box.
fISSFn stepped up and ripped the
ball into the upper left side of the
net, her second penalty' kick goal
of the year.
“I’m the person to take it for
the team and I think the team has
confidence in me to put them
Stunner
From Page 10.
that got to Hertzog mid-stride, which he headed in.
“We really had a hard time of it [Friday],” Warming
said. “They pressed with five front players and defended
with five players ”
The game had its share of physical play and fouls.
While senior co-captain Drew Cost felt the calls impacted
the game, he said the reason the team loss was its play.
“We gave up three goals that we shouldn’t have,” Cost
said. “That’s what eventually lost us the game.”
Sweep
From Page 10.
hitting percentage, but still lost the match.
“Coming off of a loss on Friday, I think that we really
wanted to come out and prove ourselves in Big Tens,”
Brown said.
Now with a 1-1 conference record the Lions feel
better about heading into the rest of their Big Ten slate.
“I thought we played a much better match [Sunday]
than we played on Friday night for sure,” coach Russ
Rose said. “But it’s a long season so on a weekend like
this you can’t get too beat up when you disappoint your
self and you can’t get too excited when you get a victory.”
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Minneapolis this weekend for the
Roy Griak Invitational.
This time, how
ever, she was
wearing the blue
and white of Penn
State.
On Saturday
both of Alford-
Sullivan’s teams
competed in the
Griak Invitational
and each had pos
itive outcomes.
The women’s team finished
“Hopefully I can
continue to be
successful and put
them away for the
team.”
Christine Nairn
sophomore midfielder
away,” Nairn said. “Hopefully I
can continue to be successful and
put them away for the team.”
A week after struggling against
an inferior Dartmouth team, the
Lions offense came back with a
passion Sunday. While the team
didn’t score in the run of play, it
did put up 12 shots, with seven on
goal.
Junior midfielder Ali Schaefer
played 66 minutes off the bench
as the attacking midfielder and
combined well with the forwards.
The Lions clearly wanted another
goal and Schaefer said the play
ers felt they were due.
“I absolutely felt we were going
to get another goal,” Schaefer
said.
“I was pushing constantly,
probably up until the last five
minutes where we were frantic
trying to get the ball out and I was
trying to settle the team. But we
never stopped this game and we
were going to go until we had 15,
16 goals.”
Last year, Heyboer torched the
Lions in overtime to give the
Spartans a 3-2 victory. Penn
State’s coaches wanted to make
sure that didn’t happen again.
“They focused on it and con
centrated from the opening
minute. Last year we did the
same thing but for the first 45
[minutes] she ran wild,” Lions
coach Erica Walsh said. “This
year the focus was a lot better. We
had good communication, good
energy and good focus.”
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ninth out of 29 teams. The top run
ner on the team was sophomore
Natalie Bower, who finished 34th
out of 300 competitors. Arizona
took home first place on the
women’s side.
Penn State’s men's team had a
successful Saturday, finishing
ninth in a field of 23 teams.
“It was probably our best race
in nearly two years,” senior Ryan
Foster said.
Juniors Kyle Dawson and Vince
McNally, who finished 13th and
22nd respectively among the indi-
Molinda
From Page 10.
Erica Walsh let it be known lineup
changes were expected going into
the Michigan State game.
Molinda was the benefactor of
those moves, and it paid off big
time for the Lions on Sunday.
“She was good on the bail, she
was good in her defending,"
Walsh said. “Her communication
was good. I was really proud of
Jackie Molinda. I'm sure she's
going to be as sore as can be. She
hasn't played those types of min
utes, but that kid put herself out
there.”
After a grueling week of prac
tice for Molinda, Walsh felt
Molinda was finally ready to go
and thanks to her performance
right off the bat she went on to
play the entire 90-minute game,
surpassing her season total only
13 minutes into the game.
Her previous high for minutes
played in a game was 35 last year
Loss
From Page 10.
need to keep fighting through
the entire time."
The Lions (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten),
who dominated play in a 1-0 win
Friday against Indiana, failed to
find offensive continuity on
Sunday. Head coach Char Morett
had tough feelings toward the
way that her team started play.
“I thought that we were so flat
to start out the game," Morett
said. "I thought we were flat in
our warm-up. I just didn't think
they came ready to play today. It's
so disappointing to play a Big Ten
game, a conference game, on
your own turf, on TV"
Possession was something the
Lions struggled with during the
game and Morett said that
turnovers played right into the
viduals, anchored the Lions.
“Having two guys of that caliber
really helps out," Foster said. “If
you want to have a shot to be a
really good team, you need to have
those guys who are scoring the
really low scores.”
Dawson and McNally did just
that as Dawson finished with a
time of 24:42 and McNally finished
10 seconds later at 24:52.
Duke placed first in the men’s
event.
The men's team feels it is get
ting progressively better and the
in a win against lowa.
And even though Molinda
noticed a little bit of rust after
playing so few minutes this year,
everyone was impressed with her
poise and performance m such a
pivotal game.
However, they were not sur
prised at all.
“From a coaching staff stand
point, Jackie Molinda had been a
starter early in the season but
had taken on an injury," Walsh
said. “I thought she was tremen
dous. I thought she earned the
start in training and in the game
she earned the continued start. I
thought she had a really strong
game." ■
Before Sunday's game, the only
other time Molinda saw action
this season was during mop-up
time in a blowout against
Bucknell two weeks ago.
But going into the team's
biggest game of the season, she
got the call on Saturday after the
team voted on who they thought
deserved the start. And with the
hands of the Wolverines' <6-4. 1-0
Big Ten) fast counter attack.
Forward Kelsey Amy found lit
tle room to run and she too said a
lazy start plagued the Lions.
Amy said a letdown in offensive
production mentally affected the
team's approach and that every
one playing needs to work
through the frustration and stick
to what they know they do w-ell.
"I think when w r e come out and
play a team that's overly aggres
sive it frustrates us and that's
what, in turn, ends up having us
play less aggressively." Amy said.
“We feel we're going to get the
calls all the time and we re not."
The Lions' offensive woes led to
several defensive breakdowns
and long runs from the Michigan
forwards. Senior captain defend
er Daneen Zug said anticipation
and field vision are something the
Lions seemed to get away from.
The Daily Collegian
“It was probably our
best race in nearly
two years.”
Ryan Faster
senior runner
runners are optimistic about the
rest of the season.
“I think we’ve improved in every
race so far." Foster said.
“I'm hoping that it continues to
happen."
coaches having the final say,
Molinda got the nod thanks to
what they told her was her ability
to get forward and attack passes.
Senior Megan Monroig, the
player in the starting lineup
Molinda replaced, was extremely
proud of the defender’s perform
ance Sunday.
“She played fantastic,"
Monroig said.
"She was winning one [on] one
balls, she was up getting into the
attack and driving back with the
line. There's not enough praise
for her 1 Sunday]."
.And though Monroig couldn’t
say enough about the job her
younger teammate did, Molinda
v’as at a loss trying to describe
the emotions that came with her
first start.
“I was really excited,” she said.
"I've been working really hard to
get back in. It w'as just great. No
words can express how I feel
right now.
To e-maii reporter: adal47@psu.edu
Amy said long passes are unac
ceptable from a defensive per
spective and the forwards need to
be much more active to help the
last line of defenders to keep the
off ense in front of them.
"We need to communicate
more to get forwards and [mid
fielders 1 in the lanes." Zug said.
“They did a great job of switching
their forwards and it mixed our
defense up a lot."
The loss had all of the players
hanging their heads, but Zug said
that the goals remain the same
and intensity won’t be an issue
from here on out.
"I think after this loss, [the
motivation] is going to be there,”
Zug said. “Our sights are on win
ning the Big Ten and. after that
game. I think it hit us hard and
we're going to respond.”
io e-mail reporter: zsfsoo3@psu.edu