Hoosiers lose on late goals to Nittany Lions

Three goals late in the second half contributed to a loss for the IU women’s soccer team as it faced No. 4 Penn State on Sunday afternoon.

Despite a Penn State goal early in the first half, IU countered quickly, with senior forward Orianica Velasquez nailing a ball into the back of the net from 24 yards out.

“I was a little bit concerned about how we were going to respond, but we came straight back in less than a minute and scored,” IU Coach Mick Lyon said. “Once we settled down and scored that first goal, we just continued to get better and better.”

Penn State scored once more in the first half, bringing the Nittany Lions into the lead when the half came to an end.

The Hoosiers retaliated in the second half. Junior midfielder Lisa Nouanesengsy hit a ball into the goal off a cross from junior forward Rebecca Candler, tying the game at 2-2.

A string of three goals within six minutes brought Penn State into a three-goal lead, resulting in the 5-2 loss for the Hoosiers.

“From that point, we didn’t have the strength or the depth in our team to sustain the level of play that we were playing at,” Lyon said.

The addition of the team’s fifth conference loss to its record did not leave the players with feelings of complete disappointment, however.

“I definitely feel like we fought really hard,” Candler said. “We came out strong, which was important. I think that we stayed tight and tough, and I’m really proud of the way we fought against them.”

Lyon said he found promise in the team’s overall performance.

“Like I said, for 72 minutes we were step for step with one of the best five teams in the country,” Lyon said. “We’re going to take that as the promise of better things. We can raise our level of play, and we can even play a little bit better.”

Candler, who tallied her eighth career assist in the match, said seeing the team pull together by scoring twice to stay in stride with Penn State was really exciting for the team as a whole.  

Lyon agreed, saying the talent across the field will no doubt contribute to future matches.  

“If we play like that against any of the teams we’ve got at home in the remainder of our schedule, we’ll win all those games,” Lyon said.

IU will face Purdue at 8 p.m. Thursday at home to continue conference play.