Late in the second half, Aldridge appeared to tie the game with a shot off of a penalty corner and assisted by senior midfielder Kaela Barker. The shot was too high, as it hit above the backboard in the net, so the goal was disallowed and the game ultimately ended with the one-goal differential.

“They are a good team,” senior back Beth Cobby said. “Every team that makes it into the tournament has good players. They were different but they weren’t any better than us in any way.”

The beginning of the game was slow for the Huskies, as Penn State came out strong and stayed that way, launched 22 shots, 12 on goal. Penn State’s Taylor Herold scored 17:33 into game play during a scramble at the goal.

This was the only shot that junior goalkeeper Lizzie Priest allowed. She blocked a total of 10 throughout the game and had some help from Cobby, who made her fifth defensive save of the season.

Northeastern earned an at-large bid to the tournament last week due to their 14 wins, the most for the team since 2005. They were No. 10 in the country entering the tournament where they were matched against the No. 9 Nittany Lions.

“Penn State is a good team, very good all around,” head coach Cheryl Murtagh said. “We started slow but the second half was good, especially with defense. We had attacks but no shots on goal.”

According to Cobby, the team was excited to just be playing in the NCAA tournament.

“It is what every college Division I, Division II, Division III athlete dreams of. To make it to the tournament and have a possibility to win the national championship,” Cobby said.

Murtagh called earning an at-large bid to the tournament an incredible compliment of the hard work put in this year.

The Nittany Lions took note of junior Crystal Poland’s success throughout the season and shut her down. Yet, this one game did not stop her from earning the top spot nationally for goals per game. She scored 27 goals in 22 games for a goals per game average of 1.29. She also earned the second place rank for points per game (2.76). Hofstra’s Genna Kovar earned the top rank with a points per game average of 3.36.

“I wish we could have gone farther but we did accomplish a lot of goals set earlier in the year and we earned the best record we have had since I’ve been here, so it was a good season to end on,” Cobby said.

Aldridge said she was happy with her final season of Husky field hockey as well. She suffered from two different knee injuries during her time at Northeastern and ended up red shirting for one season and sitting out another. Because of this, her senior season was that much more special to her.