WOMEN'S SOCCER UPSETS 17TH-RANKED PENN STATE 1-0

Thursday, September 18

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8 p.m.

James Madison University

Penn State

9/19/2008 2:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept. 18, 2008 ? The James Madison women's soccer team beat 17th-ranked Penn State 1-0 before a school-record crowd and a national television audience Thursday evening at the JMU Soccer Complex.

A header by redshirt junior Teri Maykoski (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) in the 22nd minute gave the Dukes the win in the Fox Sports Channel national Game of the Week.

Sophomore Teresa Rynier (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) set up the game-winner when she lofted a corner kick into the box, where Maykoski connected with a header from about six yards out.

The enthusiastic crowd of 1,849 more than doubled JMU's previous attendance high of 810, set against Hofstra on Nov. 1, 2003.

The Dukes had the run of play for most of the match. JMU out-shot Penn State 12-7, and the Nittany Lions had only one attempt that was on goal. That came early in the second half off a free kick by junior Melissa Hayes (Cave Creek, Ariz./Cactus Shadows) from just outside the penalty box. JMU redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Diane Wszalek (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) was able to get a hand on the shot and deflect it over the crossbar.

"I said to the players after the game that the soccer world is going to consider this an upset, but I don't think it was," said JMU coach Dave Lombardo. "I knew this was coming; this started last year when we lost up there 1-0. We knew we could play with these guys, we can win this game.

"We had a lot of things going in our favor tonight, a huge crowd, national TV, the kids had wings on their feet, flying around and Teri Maykoski scored a world-class goal against the under-20 national team goalkeeper.

"We talked all week long about business as usual, and in these situations you are always a little afraid of stage fright and I think we handled it pretty well. We needed to dominate possession in midfield and we did so in the first half.

"Each game takes on its own life form, and when Diane Wszalek made that free-kick save, that was big and I felt as if we were going to win this game."

Penn State's only shot of the first half came in the opening minutes when redshirt senior Zoe Bouchelle (Cockeysville, Md./Notre Dame Prep) blasted the ball from about 18 yards out. Her attempt sailed just wide of the goal. The next seven shots of the half were all made by JMU players.