UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Even the fog was fast Friday night, a meteorological match for No. 15 Virginia and No. 12 Penn State.

The most unexpected guest among a record crowd of 3,912 at Jeffrey Field first crept around the crossbars and drifted through the netting of the goal the Nittany Lions defended with no more than half an hour remaining in the game and the home team leading 1-0, courtesy of a Hayley Brock goal. By regulation’s final whistle it was gone, having moved from one end of the field to the other, escaped to the parking lot beyond and finally dissipated into nothingness in a matter of minutes.

And with it, the win Penn State seemed to have in its grasp.

Inches from extending its lead to two goals with barely five minutes to play in regulation when Brock slid a shot barely wide of the far post at one end, the Nittany Lions instead saw Virginia’s Lauren Alwine take a pass from Caroline Miller and slot home the equalizer with 3:04 to play. After both teams traded quality scoring opportunities in overtime, a game that promised a battle of supremacy between potential College Cup sleepers ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

“There are several ways you can look at it,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said of the draw. “You can look at it and feel maybe you should have won it because you had some good chances to go ahead. You maybe feel like you could have lost it because they had some good chances. And then you kind of settle on the draw.

“I think probably a draw was a fair result tonight.”

But a race unwon is a race still run, and to that end, the speed of Friday’s game offered an ever better measure of what’s ahead for both teams than would have a win or a loss in the standings.

The game was, of course, a rematch of one of more curious NCAA tournament games in recent memory, a second-round game on the same field last season in which a 2-0 Penn State halftime lead became a 6-2 Virginia win, with all six Cavaliers goals coming in a 20-minute span. But even that recent history seemed to run a distant third to present and future on a night when Brock, Maya Hayes and Taylor Schram made their home debuts for the Nittany Lions.

Continue reading “Thoughts on the Penn (State) Relays” →

Top 25 games
No. 1 North Carolina 3, No. 8 Texas A&M 0
No. 2 Stanford 1, No. 7 Boston College 1
No. 4 Notre Dame 1, Minnesota 0
No. 5 Portland 1, Portland State 0
No. 6 Florida State 1, No. 21 Washington State 0
No. 9 Santa Clara 1, San Diego State 0
No. 10 Wake Forest 4, UNC-Wilmington 0

Continue reading “Friday scores” →

It wasn’t the outcome the United States wanted in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, but there were still some standout American performances over the four games in Germany.

Crystal Dunn: The back line was never a problem for the United States, allowing only two goals on shots for which the opponents deserve more praise than the defenders deserve blame. And though not exactly imposing in stature, Dunn was the biggest reason why the back line held its own. She was composed in organization, quick to the ball in support and one-on-one situations and strong in her tackles. Replacing Whitney Engen in the middle of Anson Dorrance’s three-back is asking a lot of anyone, let alone a freshman, but Dunn appears up for that kind of challenge.

Bianca Henninger: Was she moving early on the penalty saves? It’s hard to argue otherwise, especially on the first shot. Whether she was breaking the speed limit by enough to get the state trooper moving, to borrow a metaphor, is debatable. But the ending aside, Henninger was outstanding throughout the tournament. From the distance of a television screen, she never appeared rattled but was frequently audible — a good combination in a keeper. Santa Clara lost a lot, most notably Jordan Angeli and Kiki Bosio, but it still has Henninger.

Kristie Mewis: She was the team’s most consistently creative midfield presence. Sometimes the chances might not have come with the greatest odds of success, but American soccer at every level isn’t overflowing with midfielders willing to take risks in pursuit of brilliance — and with the skill to do it in the air or on the ground. It will be interesting to see where she plays for Boston College this season. Her long-term future might be as an outside back with attacking flair in the Sergio Ramos mold.

Captain Christine Nairn still seems the most likely member of the U-20 team to make the return trip to Germany for the senior World Cup next year, if any make that trip, but Dunn, Henninger and Mewis are three I’ll be looking for in 2015.