The Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer is the team that is an intercollegiate varsity sports team at Pennsylvania State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Nittany Lions play at Jeffrey Field in State College, Pennsylvania on the campus of Pennsylvania State University.
The formation of a women's soccer program at Pennsylvania State University began with the creation of Penn State Women's Club Soccer in 1977 by the International Soccer Club at Pennsylvania State University. The team's creation was a response to women being excluded from playing on intramural soccer teams at the university. The club would go on to compete in international tours and gain national recognition all while competing without the support of the university. The club began petitioning Penn State Athletics for varsity status in 1980 citing a need for funding and status to continue its operation. After being denied varsity status by the university in 1980 and 1981 Penn State Women's Club Soccer filed a Title IX gender discrimination complaint with the Office of Civil Rights. The team would eventually join the Big Ten Conference and National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1994 when Penn State adopted a varsity women's soccer program under Big Ten direction.
The Nittany Lions have won 30 trophies: 1 NCAA Tournament championship, 9 Big Ten Tournament championships, 20 Big Ten regular season championships. The team has fielded two Hermann Trophy winners: Christie Welsh (2001) and Raquel Rodríguez (2015). The Nittany Lions notable alumnae include United States women's national soccer team players Alyssa Naeher, Ali Krieger and Allie Long who are FIFA Women's World Cup champions.
History Founding The formation of a women's soccer program at Pennsylvania State University began with the creation of Penn State Women's Club Soccer. The women's club was put together as a response to women being excluded from playing on intramural soccer teams by the International Soccer Club, a student run university organization, in 1977. The initial team rostered 30 total women, and played its first matches in a local Centre County town league where they were the only all-female team participating. The club struggled during their inaugural season unable to record a win in league play, but achieving their first victory in the postseason playoffs.
After the club's inaugural season the team planned to schedule a slate of female club opponents but struggled to find willing clubs. It was reported a total of 24 women's club teams were in operation in the East Coast region at the time. Penn State Women's Club Soccer were able to slate a full season of games against other all-women's teams. The scheduled matches featured high school programs and other college club teams.
In the club's first three matches of the season, they recorded a 10–0 win over Franklin & Marshall College as well as 1–0 and 2–0 victories over The Grier School. In the club's first home match of the season the club faced Super F club of New York City, playing the match as a part of a double header with Penn State men's soccer. The club would go on to win the match 4–2, scoring twice in the final six minutes to seal the team's first win at Jeffrey Field. That season Penn State Women's Club Soccer was also able set up the United States' first women's indoor soccer tournament, in which they competed along with six teams from the East Coast region.
Tim Conley, then Penn State men's soccer assistant coach, was asked to accompany the team to a tournament in Alabama at the end of the 1978 season. After the trip Conley was asked to step into the role of Head Coach at the start of the 1979 season. Conley accepted, leaving his paid position with the university for a volunteer role with the women's club. Changes were immediately made to the program, as the new head coach made practices daily Monday through Friday modeled after the varsity squad schedule. With Conley's university connections he was able to secure university provided vans to transport the team to away matches. In his first season as head coach the team went undefeated outscoring their opponents 37–1 in eight games.
Following the impressive 1979 season the club was invited to compete in the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Championship Tournament. The Championship Tournament was a regional invitational tournament featuring eight teams, two from New York and one from each of the remaining East Coast states. Penn State, seeded 7th that year, was the only non-varsity sponsored team in the competition. The Penn State Athletics Department sanctioned the trip, officially recognizing the team as an independent university athletics club, provided the team with two vans as well as paying lodging expenses. The club lost all three of its matches, falling to Courtland State, Vermont and Connecticut, finishing 8th in the tournament.
With an elevated recognition Penn State Women's Club Soccer and Tim Conley set a schedule of games mostly consisting of varsity opponents for their 1980 season. The team finished the regular season with eight wins and one loss to Indiana University.
Following the conclusion of the 1980 season the club set up a two-week international tour of England set up by the Women's Football Association. The club scheduled matches against Northwood Ladies FC, Cambridge Pye Ladies FC, and the Notts County Women's Club. On the way the club's first match against Northwood the team met three men on the subway who after chatting with the team decided to come watch the match. When the team arrived the referee and linesmen scheduled to work the match were nowhere to be found. The three men who the team had met on the subway stepped into the role as match officials. The club went on the win the match 6–0 next traveling to Cambridge downing Pye Ladies FC 3–1. The club then traveled to Nottingham to face Notts County Women's Club defeating them 5–0 closing out their tour with a 3–0 record. After the Nottingham match the team was invited out to a disco by the Notts County Women's Club where they met and partied with John McGovern.
Title IX lawsuit Penn State Women's Club Soccer began to petition Penn State Athletics for varsity status in 1980 citing a need for funding, status and access to post season play to continue its operation. At that time the club was fully funded by a player fee and a small grant from a university intramural fund. Coaches and staff of the club were unpaid volunteers and travel expenses fell on each player individually.
After being denied varsity status by the university in 1980 and 1981, Penn State Women's Club Soccer filed a Title IX gender discrimination complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in Philadelphia against Pennsylvania State University on March 16 of 1981. The club argued Penn State was in violation of Title IX laws when the university refused sponsorship to a program that had a desire and need for a women's team while simultaneously operating an identical men's program. Head Coach Tim Conley argued the team could not continue on its operation without university sponsorship, citing inadequate medical protection, facilities and coaching salaries. Pennsylvania State University and athletic director Joe Paterno denied the club's claim and stated the decision was based on budget issues and the club being a women's sports team had not been a deciding factor.
The Office of Civil Rights officially initiated an investigation into the Penn State athletic department in April 1981 after it received the club team's complaint letter. The Office was to send an investigator to determine if Penn State's athletic department as a whole, not just for soccer, was in compliance with Title IX requirements. An initial visit from the investigator was scheduled for June 1981 but was delayed due a travel budget shortage at the office. Citing political and legal challenges to Title IX, in August 1981 the Ronald Reagan administration announced it would review Federal Title IX guidelines and put all ongoing Title IX investigation on hold until clarifications to the law were made.
During this time, the Penn State athletic department refused to sign the club team's waiver for postseason play, as they had done the two previous seasons. The waiver certified the team as a university sanctioned club team and allowed the club to compete in the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Championship Tournament. The university stated its decision was made because it did not have enough oversight of team operations. The club claimed they believed the university refused to sign because of the Title IX investigation.
The investigation was officially closed in March 1984 after supreme court case Grove City College v. Bell ruled that compliance with Title IX is necessary only in the particular programs or activities that receive federal funding, which Penn State's athletic department did not.
Club play After a headlining 1981 season off the pitch, seeing the Nittany Lions file a Title IX gender discrimination complaint against the university, the club finished with a record of eight wins, five losses and one tie. The club did not compete in any post-season play after Penn State's athletic department refused to sign the club's application to the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Championship Tournament. The form required a signature from an athletic department official, certifying the team as a university sanctioned club and meeting Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Varsity requirements. Penn State's athletic department had signed for the club the two previous seasons but cited they wanted to know the implications the signature might have in regards to the university's liability for the club, which it had no administrative control or jurisdiction over. In contrast to the public statements the university had supervised certain aspects of the club including academic eligibility as well as making sure the team adhered to AIAW rules. Head coach Tim Conley resigned from his head coaching post at the end of the 1981 season. Conley had cited that he felt he had done his part for the team and that without a salary he could not continue to coach.
After the departure of Tim Conley keeping a consistent face in the head coaching position become an issue for club. As a non-varsity club team coaches were required to be faculty members at the university, this meant professors, graduate students or other university employees already working full or part-time jobs were the only pool the team could draw from. Players shared that many faculty members believed that being an advisor for a club sport was not strategically smart as many saw their time could be used more wisely to advance their academic careers through research grants or writing articles. Additionally, the head coaching position was unpaid and required previous coaching experience and a large time commitment, making it inaccessible to most faculty. While the club struggled to maintain a consistent face in its head coaching position, they also struggled to find varsity opponents and top ranked teams that were willing to play them. After defeating Princeton, a top ranked varsity team, the Tigers refused to face the club again citing a loss to a non-varsity club team could tank a team's season and rank.