Maddy Evans corralled a pass from Melissa Hayes, then sent a lofting pass over a defender to Jackie Molinda as Megan Monroig sprinted over to the ball.
Assistant coach Michael Coll echoed his satisfaction to the midfielders, awarding a point to the team donning yellow pinnies.
"It's hard work!" Coll said. "Keep it up, now!"
On the other side of the field, wings Nikki Watts and Jess Rosenbluth alternated kicking crossing passes into the middle of the field to Dani Toney and Katie Schoepfer, who finished the passes into the net.
Connecting on short passes under pressure and connecting on crossing paths are two of the biggest areas of focus for the Penn State women's soccer team in a full week of practice before a Sunday matchup with Ohio State.
"It allows us to teach," head coach Erica Walsh said. "Too often we're constantly preparing just for the next game, and that's all you're focused on. Now we can actually train the forwards and train some things that we really need to focus on as a team."
Following a hard-fought 3-2 loss to Michigan State last Sunday, the Nittany Lions (4-5-1) took Monday off before getting back to work Tuesday.
Sophomore Emma Thomson admitted she thought about the loss all day Monday and the entire ride back home from East Lansing.
"We took the day to kinda take it all in and I think everybody has kinda accepted it," senior defender Tara Davies said. "Even in a practice, going against each other 100 percent, that's where we're going to build our confidence up for the next game."
The Lions opened practice with a three-mile run around the IM Fields, which Watts said is a rarity mid-season. Usually, she said, the team trains via short distance and anaerobic workouts.
Walsh felt it was important to put the team through an intense workout Tuesday to quell their thoughts from the weekend.
"This team is more psychologically worn down than they are physically right now," Walsh said. "But it's all the same thing. If you think you're tired, then you're tired. We wanted to get out today because they need to start thinking ahead and start solving what needs to be done."
Davies said she used the off day to brainstorm some of the problematic areas from Sunday's game, but she also took time to herself.
If a soccer player thinks about a loss too much, they will end up beating themselves up over it, she said.
Removing herself from soccer for the day was her best option, but on Tuesday the team was back on the field.
Walsh praised the squad's unwavering work ethic of the squad despite possessing the worst record through 10 games in program history.
"Understanding that we've won the Big Ten 11 years in a row now, that's something I'm certainly not ready to give up on," Davies said. "And it's something the rest of this team is not ready to give up. I'm hoping we come back with a bit of fire."
