Struggling Penn State hands No. 5 field hockey second road loss of the season

Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you. That line might easily have been meant for the field hockey team this weekend. For most of this season, the Tigers have been eating the bar. On Saturday against No. 17 ranked Penn State, it was the bar's turn.

Coming off an impressive victory over Old Dominion, ranked No. 3 in the nation, the No. 5-ranked Tigers were well on their way to establishing themselves as a top contender for the national title in November. A dominating midweek victory over in-state rival Rutgers appeared to send a clear message that the Tigers are as consistent as they are talented.

And so almost nobody, except maybe a few die-hard Nittany Lion fans out there, anticipated Saturday's 2-0 loss at Bigler Field in Happy Valley, Pa. The Tigers came in to the game owning a three game winning streak against the Nittany Lions, who, even after Saturday, have a losing record for the season. More importantly perhaps, the Tigers came in to the game possessing one of the nation's most explosive offenses, led by junior attack Ilvy Friebe.

But the bar was hungry, and so all of the Tigers' advantages were for naught on Saturday. The bad news began with a goal by Penn State senior Meredith Shulzitski at the 29:39 mark in the first half. It got worse a little more than a minute into the second half, when Penn State senior Kiley Kulina, who had assisted Shulzitski's goal, scored off a penalty corner.

"Penn State just knew everything we were going to do, and they capitalized on our mistakes," Friebe said.

Junior goalkeeper Kelly Baril did what she could to slow the Penn State attack, making four saves, but it was not enough. On this day, there would be no cushion. For the first time since a shutout defeat against Maryland last year, the Tigers were unable to score a single goal. Penn State junior goalkeeper Anne Zinkavich was an immovable obstacle, thwarting six Tiger shots and sealing the victory for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State gained the momentum with its early goal and held on the rest of the way.

"They scored pretty early in the game off one of our mistakes, and that disheartened us and inspired them. We weren't able to score after that, because they put their strength in their defense after they were up one goal," Friebe said.

Needless to say, the Tigers were disappointed and surprised by their play. Whatever the reason, they were not the same team that had beaten Old Dominion just a week earlier.

"It was a pretty lackluster performance across the board," head coach Beth Bozman said. "I don't think that we looked sharp today. We just did not pick it up when we needed to pick it up. We had lots of opportunities and were just not able to capitalize on really dangerous situations."

The good news for the Tigers is that this is the kind of defeat that should be relatively easy to get over. The regular season is still far from finished, meaning that the Tigers have plenty of time to get their game back in order for the NCAAs, and, more importantly, the Tigers' Ivy League record remains unblemished. If they had to pick a time to lose this season, this past Saturday was definitely one of the prime choices.

The march to November continues for the Tigers as they head down to Delaware on Wednesday, and the Ivy League race heats up this weekend in Providence, R.I., with the Tigers looking to avenge their only Ivy League loss of the last eight years against the Brown Bears.