/
Penn State Advances to National Semifinals With Win Over Two-Time Defending Champion Maryland

The Nittany Lions will make their seventh NCAA semifinal appearance in College Park, Md. on Nov. 16.



Penn State's Jen Long hopes to lead the Nittany Lions to a national title.

Nov. 13, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Penn State (15-7) advances to the NCAA Field Hockey Championship semifinals for the seventh time in program history and the first time since 2002.  Penn State will play in the second semifinal game against Wake Forest (16-5) at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 16 after North Carolina (22-0) and Connecticut (22-2) meet in Game 1 at 5 p.m. ET.  The semifinals will be played in College Park, Md. on the University of Maryland campus.  The Nittany Lions advanced to the semifinals after defeating Virginia in the first round and stunning two-time defending champion Maryland in the second round.

The Nittany Lions are no strangers to College Park, Md., as their first- and second-round wins came on the Maryland campus last weekend.  Penn State has now played seven straight NCAA Tournament games in College Park.   

In 2002, Penn State knocked off Old Dominion in the national semifinal game, but fell to Wake Forest in the tournament finale, marking the only NCAA championship game in which the Nittany Lions have played.  Penn State was also a national semifinalist in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991 and 1993 making this the third time that the Nittany Lions have advanced to the national semifinals since joining the Big Ten Conference in 1992.  Penn State holds a 20-27 record all-time in NCAA tournament games and owns a 13-13 record in NCAA action since joining the Big Ten. 
 
The Big Ten is no stranger to the national semifinals.  The conference has been represented 25 times in the round of four with seven teams advancing to the national championship, including two NCAA Champions as Iowa won the title in 1986, and Michigan took home the national crown in 2001.  The last Big Ten team to advance beyond the second round was Michigan State in 2004. 

All tournament information and results can be found at www.umterps.com or at ncaasports.com/fieldhockey/womens.  The NCAA Championship game will be televised on CSTV with a game start of Noon ET.  Tickets can be purchased at the event or by visiting Maryland's web site.