UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State women’s soccer earns 22nd in the SoccerTimes.com poll, while standouts Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) and Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) garnered weekly honors for their outstanding play last weekend in 5-0 and 3-0 wins over West Virginia and Richmond, respectively.
The Nittany Lions earned their first Top 25 ranking of the season in any of the three major polls (NSCAA, Soccer America, SoccerTimes.com) when Penn State was voted 22nd by SoccerTimes.com. The poll is the only one to disclose each voter and consists of 16 Division I head coaches including several national title winners. Penn State earned votes in the past NSCAA poll and was left out of the Soccer America rankings released Tuesday.
On the student-athlete side of things, Hayes racked up another weekly award to go along with her Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor. Hayes was also named to Soccer America’s Team of the week for her strong play. The sophomore forward out of New Jersey was tabbed the SoccerSavings.com/Philly Soccer News Player of the Week for her three-goal, six-point showing against WVU and Richmond. Hayes notched her first multi-goal game of the season in a resounding 5-0 victory over then-No. 17 West Virginia before adding the game-winner in a 3-0 triumph over the Spiders.
The Nittany Lions travel to the Pitt Soccer Classic on Friday to take on ACC foe N.C. State at 5 p.m. The trip to the University of Pittsburgh will be Penn State’s first on brand new Ambrose Urbanic Field at Petersen Sports Complex. Penn State will round out its time in Pittsburgh on Sunday against either Colorado College at 11:30 a.m. or Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. The time and opponent is contingent on who wins/loses each match.