While the field hockey team split its games this weekend, junior Chris McGinley dribbled her way up three places to become the No. 5 all time scorer for the Lady Lions.
McGinley scored six of the Lady Lion’s eight goals in the Big Ten block at Iowa; two of them came in Penn State’s disheartening 3-2 double overtime loss to No. 2 ranked Iowa Friday.
“It was the best game Penn State has played this year,” Morett said. “Our kids really rose to the occasion.”
McGinley warned that the Lady Lions wanted to leap out to an early lead, and 17 minutes into the game she answered the call. McGinley drove her way through the Hawkeye defense, scoring unassisted on a shot across Iowa goalkeeper Andrea Wileand.
Ten minutes later, McGinley followed up her own goal to score on a corner penalty shot with an assist from the co-captain connection, Amy Stairs and Jen Stewart.
Iowa seemed taken aback by the Lady Lion intensity, as it took until late in the first half for them to adjust to it. With less than ten minutes left in the first half, the Hawkeyes regained their bearings, and scored on a penalty corner.
Iowa’s Kristy Gleason, who is the top scorer in the NCAA, scored on a penalty corner with an assist from Jamie Rofrano and Tiffany Bybel cutting Penn State’s lead to 2-1.
But Penn State still had the momentum and the lead going into the second half –they came out looking to finish off the Hawkeyes.
The Lady Lions held their ground until late into the second half when Kristen Filatt took a slapshot which was deflected by Chris Blais and blocked by Jill Pearsall’s body.
Filatt scored on the ensuing penalty shot past freshman goal keeper Shelly Meister forcing the first overtime — where McGinley came painstakingly close to ending it.
She bounced a penalty corner shot off the far post, and Iowa recovered the rebound. Two minutes into the second overtime Iowa’s Gleason scored on another penalty corner extending the Hawkeye home winning streak to 26 games.
“The Iowa game was tiring,” Morett said. “I talked with them and told them that I expected the level of play to be high now. I told them you know that you are capable of winning.”
McGinley took that advice to heart and still had some scoring left in her.
She carried her scoring streak into Saturday’s Michigan game. Four minutes into the contest, McGinley scored on a penalty shot with an assist from Stewart and Stairs. By this time McGinley had already moved up to No. 7 all-time scorer.
McGinley followed up on her own goal twice, the first came on a pass by Tara Maguire, which the Medord (N.J.) machine re-directed into the Wolverine goal. Late in the first half McGinley scored again on a penalty corner with an assist from Stewart and Stairs bringing her to No. 6 in the all-time scorers.
Early in the second half, Heather Atkinson interluded with a goal of her own, but McGinley could not let it go untouched, and she registered an assist in the goal.
Penn State with a 4-0 lead replaced goalkeeper Meister with sophomore goalkeeper Paulette Thompson.
Gia Biagi of Michigan scored on Thompson. Penn State answered through McGinley with her fourth goal of the game with an assist from Stairs.
McGinley then became the No. 5 all-time career goal scorer with 49 career goals. Ironically, the player whose holds the No. 4 position is Morett. Morett also holds the record for scoring the most goals in a single game. McGinley had a chance to tie that record with a penalty corner late in the game.
Morett knew that she held the record for the number of goals in a game, and with a comfortable lead decided to make light of the situation.
“I knew that I held the record for goals in a game at five,” Morett said. “So, for fun, I had signalled for someone else to take the shot. I changed the play to give Chris the shot, but she did not score.”
Danielle Annibale finished off the Lady Lion scoring with an assist from Jen Coletta.