By Katie Christ
The Big Ten Tournament continued Friday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Mich. when the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins beat the No. 5 Penn State Nittany Lions 1-0 in the semifinal. The victory will send the Terps to the championship.
Fresh off of a 5-0 win Thursday against Ohio State, Maryland, the regular-season Big Ten champions, came into the game ready to defeat another conference foe.
When Maryland and Penn State first met in early October, Maryland escaped with a close, 4-3 win.
Penn State put up another good valiant on Friday, as the Nittany Lions’ goalkeeper Kylie Licata had seven saves and shut out the Terps, who have thrived on scoring early all season long, for the entire first half.
For Maryland’s defense, senior goalkeeper Brooke Cabrera continued her success in the goal with a total of seven saves and zero goals surrendered. At one point in the first period, she saved three shots in a row in a span of one minute off of Penn State’s offense.
The game’s lone goal was scored in the second period by Terps’ redshirt sophomore forward Emma Rissinger. The goal was Rissinger’s fifth of the year and came off of a rebound from a corner in the 38th minute of the game.
With their win against Penn State, the Terps advance to the championship of the Big Ten Tournament against Northwestern University.
