“We changed our tactics with our forwards and we put one forward in front of the other,” Heyboer said. “I was up top and Kori came in during her first game here at State, and she was able to get the ball and played the perfect pass to me.”

Before Heyboer’s game-winner, each team had chances in the overtime period.

Less than a minute into overtime, freshman forward Olivia Stander broke free from two defenders, but didn’t have enough power on her kick. A minute later, Penn State’s Danielle Toney went one-on-one with MSU sophomore goalkeeper Jill Flietstra, but Flietstra came out of the net to preserve the tie.

Then MSU head coach Tom Saxton inserted Reinhart for Stander as the Spartans focused on stopping Penn State.

“We were under siege, there’s no doubt about it the last 15 or 20 minutes,” Saxton said. “Penn State’s a great team and we were chasing them so much they were wearing us down. Our backs had a couple nicks and were tightening up. I was just wondering if we could hang on physically. … We were just basically trying to hang on and look for a counter and Laura did her stuff and it was a great win.”

The goal kept the Spartans (7-0-2 overall, 1-0-0 Big Ten) unbeaten on the season, while giving them a huge win against the 12-time reigning Big Ten Champion Nittany Lions (4-5-1, 0-0-1) to open the Big Ten season.

Early in the game, it looked as though no overtime period would be necessary, as the Spartans jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

In the 22nd minute, Heyboer passed in front of the net to senior midfielder Lauren Sinacola, who scored on a header into the right side of the net past Penn State’s All-American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

The Spartans doubled their lead early in the second half, when freshman midfielder Jordan Mueller received a long pass from Heyboer on the right side of the field. Mueller attacked the net on the goal line, then passed in front of the net to Stander, who scored at the 49:08 mark.

The feel of the game quickly shifted after MSU secured its two-score cushion.

In the 60th minute, Penn State’s Katie Schoepfer took a pass from Rachel Lamarre and split the defense in front of the net, beating Flietstra to her right.

Penn State tied the game less than 10 minutes later, when Christine Nairn drilled a left-footed shot into the very top left corner of the net at 68:05.

“We actually got caught playing panicked,” senior defender Megan Brown said of Penn State’s comeback. “We’d play defense for a long stretch of time and when we’d finally get the ball, we just kicked it and tried to get it out instead of playing our game, so we ended up defending the whole time. Them being a great offensive team, you give them that many opportunities and they’re going to put some in.”

In the last minute of regulation, Sinacola was hit on MSU’s side of the field and instantly fell to the ground with a knee injury. She had to be carried off, but watched from a medical trainer’s cart as Heyboer scored the game-winner.

The Spartans also played without senior forward Lauren Hill, the team’s leading scorer who served a one-game suspension after picking up two yellow cards in MSU’s last match.

“We just went into it saying we wanted to work as hard as we could, capitalize on our opportunities, be solid defensively, don’t give up anything and come out with the win,” Brown said. “We left it all out there and we came out on top.”