"I think in the second half we were able to handle it a lot better. You want a shutout every game, but I think it took the pressure off a bit."
Purdue jumped out to 1-0 lead just 7:17 seconds in, on its second shot of the game. The score remained 1-0 as the Lions went into halftime a little surprised at what was happening.
Penn State hadn't trailed in a game since it was upset in the opener against Washington.
"It was kind of a shocker," senior forward Sophie Hiler said. "Nobody expected it. It kind of kicked us in out butts and we had to get going."
The Lions have had problems all season putting back-to-back solid games together, and the slow start against Purdue made it look like that might be the case again.
"I was a little worried going into this game," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said. "I thought maybe being at home and being a Big Ten game it wouldn't be such a problem, but obviously its another thing we have to work on.
In the second half Penn State responded aggressively, the way Wilkins hoped of her fifth ranked team.
Just under nine minutes into the second half, junior Carmelina Moscato got things started. After working her way towards the net, her initial shot was blocked by goalie Lauren Mason. She got her own rebound, passed it over to Hiler, who knocked it past a Boilermaker defender at the goal-line.
"Carm took a shot, it was blocked and I was standing right there," Hiler said. "[Coach] Paula is always talking about rebounds, rebounds, rebounds. It just happened to fall right into my late and I hit it. I knew it was going in right when I hit it."
With all of the momentum on the Lions side, the attack was in the Purdue side of the field most of the second half. Purdue got only one shot off the rest of the game after its goal. Penn State outshot the Boilermakers 17-3.
"We changed our formation with three on top to see if we could put them under a little more pressure," Wilkins said. "Obviously that worked. The biggest thing was that the mentality changed."
Then in the 71st minute, freshman Ali Donofrio put the Lions on top for good.
Junior Tiffany Weimer's shot from the side of the net got past the defenders, and Donofrio was there to score the game-winner, and also her first career goal.
"It felt good," Donofrio said. "It definitely made my confidence shoot right up."
Her team never let down after that, adding a goal at 83:05, when senior Amanda Lentz set up Weimer for her tenth goal of the season.
Weimer scored the Lions only goal against Indiana, which put her over the 100 point mark for her career. She also moved above Joanna Lohman into fifth place all-time in goals scored, with 43.
On Friday a new attendance record was set for any event ever at Jeffrey Field, with 2,366 onlookers.
Penn State has extended its winning streak on Jeffrey Field to 33 consecutive games.
