Penn State falls short of historic season

Penn State Women’s Soccer was looking to make history on Saturday but fell just short losing to Wisconsin 1-0 at home in the final game of the regular season. The Nittany Lions still have National Title aspirations and have the potential to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

Unbeaten season falls Short

The Penn State Women’s Soccer team has quietly been having one of their best seasons in program history but they fell against No. 21 Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions have finished 12-1-4 and will be the 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will take on Indiana in the first round. Penn State entered the game with a No. 4 national ranking and needed a win to win their 21^st Big Ten Regular season Title.

National Title Aspirations

Penn State received the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Tournament Committee Top 16 rankings released over the weekend. While they haven’t been able to climb higher than 4 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 yet this season, they did receive a 1^st place vote in the last poll. After the loss to Wisconsin, it is unlikely that even with a Big Ten Tournament championship the Nittany Lions will be able to get the No. 1 overall seed. However, getting a 1 seed and hosting a regional isn’t completely out of the picture if the Nittany Lions can make a run in the conference tournament.

Penn State has made the NCAA Tournament now in 29 of their 30 seasons with the only miss being the inaugural team in 1994 when the field was much smaller. The Nittany Lions have made the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for six straight seasons but haven’t been able to get past that round recently. This year’s team has an opportunity to get over that hurdle and return to the College Cup for the 6^th time and first since they won the National Title in 2015.

As the higher seed Penn State will at least host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament with the potential to host the Sweet 16/ Elite 8 depending on seeding and advancement.

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