Penn State will play Southern Nazarene in the NCR/Crossover Women's D1 league after both won convincing victories Saturday in the semifinals.
This league had a rocky start last year because of the Wheeling fiasco that resulted in the Cardinals forfeiting the final. SNU won against a hastily-drafted Northern Iowa team that did its best.
This year, no Wheeling, and also no BYU (they chose another option) and no Life University (not invited), and less drama, also.
Penn State over Walsh
Penn State has enjoyed a resurgence this year under new Head Coach Matt Ramirez. The plays bought into chasing bigger dreams and it has worked wonders.
In this semifinal, the Nittany Lions won 38-14. Walsh pressured early and were held up, but Penn State's tenacious defense, and their powerful front-row runners in Gabrielle Keough and Kylie Heichman continued to push the gainline back.
Penn State was able to score twice in the first 25 minutes, once with a bit of a break out of their own end, and one with a prolonged series of phases.
Also asking questions of the Walsh defense was lock Grace Talty and flanker and captain Danica Luzak.
For Walsh, they relied a lot on the work of flyhalf Isabella Gullatta, who is a shifty runner with an excellent boot. She was able to kick Walsh out of a trouble, but she needed some help.
Heichman would add to their lead with a pick-and-go try, and No. 8 Cara McManus powered through for a try.
Walsh responded with an excellent restart from Gullatta that was nabbed by Jasmine Burley. The powerful prop almost made it to the line and while Penn State scrambled back, the ball went wide for center Rhyan Reittinger to take it in.
That made it 26-5, but several Walsh penalties set up a run for Luzak and Penn State made it 33-5. Luzak would ice it with another before an interception from Gullatta nabbed Walsh their second.
Still, Walsh was competitive and didn't wilt. They have a large number of walk-ons on their team and made a real game of it. They had speed on the edge that Penn State haf to work hard to stop, and prop Kennedy Clark was mobile and a hard runner.
Penn State had very good team defense and they played fast. Heichman, meanwhile, was a force with the ball and also was an effective goalkicking, not a common thing to see in a front-rower.
