The Nittany Lions field hockey team, thanks to three second-half goals, defeated Connecticut 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Bigler Field for their first victory of the season.

Freshmen forwards Karin Grap and Bekah Hostetler, after sitting the bench in the first half, entered the game to score the tying and game-winning goals, respectively. Grap scored one minute, 14 seconds before Hostetler, early in the second half.

Grap deflected Meredith Shulzitski's shot past Husky goaltender Maureen Butler to knot the game at 1-1 at the 25:29 mark.

"Karin always has her stick down," Lions coach Char Morett said. "Karin is a gnatty little forward out there and she's tipped a couple at practices before."

After controlling the pace of the game in the first half, Penn State trailed the Huskies 1-0 at halftime. Connecticut had three shots to the Lions' two in the first frame, as the Lions sometimes passed too much.

"I think it's frustrating when you are working your butts off and the ball is not going in the cage," Shulzitski said. "(Grap's goal) was really important to get us going and show us we're in this game and there is no reason we can't come back and win it."

Morett said in the first half her team often beat the Huskies' defenders, but the Lions did not drive quickly or aggressively enough to the goal.

Morett said she liked the aggressive play Grap, Hostetler and fellow freshman Michelle Rigby exhibited, when they entered the game in the second half.

"They're just crashing (the goal)," she said. "That's what you need sometimes. Their aggressiveness paid off for us today."

The Lions' more aggressive second half play showed on the shot chart, where they bettered Connecticut by an 8-4 margin. The teams had 12 corners apiece for the game.

Huskies coach Nancy Stevens agreed with Morett that Penn State's aggressiveness was important in the game.

"Penn State's aggressive play pressures you into making mistakes, and we definitely turned over the ball too much," she said.

Lions goalie Annie Zinkavich made an important save on a one-on-one breakaway against Husky goal-scorer Lauren Henderson, early in the second half, before Grap tied the game. Zinkavich slid to her left to deflect Henderson's shot wide of the goal.

"(The save) was very, very key," Morett said. "The only way they scored was on a defensive lapse we had earlier in the first half, so I thought that the defense was doing fine. That was the second breakdown we had.

"At that point you just have to try to force (Henderson) out of a good scoring angle, and I think Annie did a great job timing that."

Henderson started the scoring as she broke through the Lions' defense and shot a bullet over goalie Annie Zinkavich's right shoulder, with 5:50 to play in the first half.

Shulzitski sealed the win for the Lions with a goal off a scramble with 50 seconds to play in the game.

"(The goal) felt great," Shulzitski said. "Even though you know it's not the one that's the game winner, it always feels good to get the ball in the cage."