Despite entering halftime locked in a scoreless tie, Syracuse ultimately couldn't match a relentless Penn State attack Sunday afternoon.
Mallory Weber scored a pair of goals early in the second half to lead the No. 24/9 Nittany Lions (2-0-0) to a relatively easy 2-0 victory over SU in the final contest of the Penn State Invitational.
Syracuse (0-1-1) has now been shut out in each of its first two matches this season.
"We had some dangerous opportunities and broke through a couple of times, but were stopped by well-timed challenges," SU head coach Phil Wheddon told Syracuse Athletics [10]. "We have to capitalize on the opportunities when we get them."
Weber did exactly that in the 47th minute, when she smoked a loose rebound past Syracuse goalkeeper MacKenzie Moranz [11] to give the Lions a one-goal advantage. Weber wasn't finished, however, as she drilled a well-placed pass from teammate Raquel Rodriguez into the cage only five minutes later.
The Orange finished strong on defense by successfully defending four corner kicks the rest of the way, but could not muster that elusive first goal.
Although Moranz saw her own shutout streak end at 157 minutes, she continued her exceptional start to the season by recording seven saves in the lossSU's next chance to ignite its offense will come on the road against Albany on Friday at 7 p.m.
Said Wheddon: "There were many positives to take from this game. We can move forward to our next opponent knowing we can compete against the top teams in the country."
