Penn State celebrates after a win against No. 8 BYU in their season opener.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. â Midfielder Marissa Sheva kicked off the 2017 Penn State women's soccer season with her first-career two-goal game to help the Nittany Lions top No. 8 BYU 3-1 Friday night in front of 3,570 fans at Jeffrey Field.
"First off, fantastic crowd tonight," PSU coach Erica Dambach said. "Great energy here at Jeffrey Field. It is always fun to open up the sports season here on a Friday night and I just want to thank the crowd because they brought us so much energy, especially when BYU equalized. We needed their energy. We needed their boost and just really proud of our group tonight."
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Less than 10 minutes into the season, junior Charlotte Williams found Sheva on the right side of the field and then she moved into the box to beat BYU goalkeeper Hannah Clark from eight-yards out for the 1-0 lead.
After tallying a shot advantage of 8-3 during the first 45 minutes of play, Penn State held a 1-0 lead at the break. Thirteen minutes into the second half, BYU's Cameron Tucker found the back of the net to tie the match at one.
FINAL | Penn State 3, No. 8 BYU 1 #WeAre #ChasingGreatness pic.twitter.com/0tJBbdDbOP
â Penn State WSOC (@PennStateWSOC) August 19, 2017
With the game evened up, Penn State scored twice within a three-minute span to take a 3-1 lead in the 65th minute of play.
The Nittany Lions took back the lead after junior Alina Ortega Jurado placed a shot into the bottom-right corner at 61:43 from 20 yards out. Following the Ortega Jurado strike, Sheva completed her brace at 64:22, as she put home a rebound after a pair of Nittany Lion shot attempts.
In net, redshirt junior Rose Chandler recorded her first-career start, as she finished the evening with three saves, two of which came in the final 45 minutes of play.
The Nittany Lions continue their season-opening homestand with Hofstra on Sunday, Aug. 20, at 1 p.m. ET.
