Penn State’s season ends in Round 3 of the NCAA tournament, falling to Virginia, 3-2 in a Sweet 16 overtime thriller.
Penn State entered the second half with lots of momentum but could not stop Virginia’s fast scoring offense.
Penn State and Virginia traded blows early on in the match as neither side wanted to give an inch, both teams refusing to let the other team maintain possession of the ball until senior forward Payton Linnehan broke the deadlock in the game and put Penn State up 1-0 with 15:01 left in the first half.
Although down 1-0, Virginia would not go down without a fight, creating their own pressure in Penn State’s defensive zone. Yet Penn State would hold onto its narrow lead and go into halftime with all the momentum.
Virginia had its back to the wall entering the second half and looked to crawl back and get even with the Nittany Lions.
The Cavaliers would start generating more scoring opportunities that would eventually tie the game at one from a shot off midfielder Jill Flammia at the 16:33 mark. Yet the Nittany Lions would respond with a quick tip-in goal from freshman forward Amelia White that put Penn State up two goals to one with 8:05 left.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Virginia would show life and tie the game at 2-2 with 2:10 left and that would be all she wrote for the regulation.
Penn State and Virginia would have to play in the cold a little longer as this game went into overtime.
Both sides would enter overtime looking to put each other away and advance to the elite 8 game of the NCAA tournament. Virginia forward Haley Hopkins would score a quick and game-winning goal that would put Virginia up 3-2 with 6:22 left in the 1st overtime period.
Penn State would find the pressure they were missing the past two periods and would keep the ball mainly in the Virginia defensive soon. Yet that newfound pressure was not enough for the Nittany Lions as time quickly ticked down to zero.
