Penn State hosted the University of Michigan (1-1, 0-1 Big 10) Saturday in their first Big Ten conference game. Penn State came off a very physical preseason loss to WPL team New York Rugby Club and looked to show what they learned from the defeat. The University of Michigan was at a distinct disadvantage having only a week of prep time before the Big Ten opener.
Those two situations showed themselves immediately as Penn State scored first after some high pressure defense by wing Nikki Klassen leading to an intercepted pass by #7 Rachel Campbell who dotted down in the first 7 minutes of the game. For the rest of the game the University of Michigan struggled against PSU’s aggressive defense and the Nittany Lions continued to exploit turnover ball.
While the final score may appear lopsided, Head Coach Kate Daley was very impressed with University of Michigan’s flyhalf throughout the game stating, “she was an excellent kicker who continually put our back 3 under pressure and challenged our ability to create fast ball and attacking opportunities from kick off receipts.”
Penn State will see the University of Michigan again on October 29th to complete the home and away series and anticipate a much tougher game after UofM has a season of development behind them.
Penn State will challenge Rutgers next Saturday September 24th at 7:30pm for their second Big Ten conference game of the season. This will be Rutgers debut season as Division 1 team in the Big Ten.
Penn State 128
Tries: Campbell, Canett 4, Schaefer, Feury 2, Klassen, Payson, Solomon 3, Cantorna 3, Heavner, Chipman, Fromstein, Berta
Conversions: Feury 4, Heavner 4, Cantorna 4, Fromstein, Canett
Penalties: None
Michigan 0
