Big Ten men’s soccer quarterfinal preview: Penn State vs Indiana
Been there. Done that.
It may have been one year ago, but Penn State took care of business 3-0 in a win-or-go-home Big Ten Championship game over Indiana.
This year the location is flipped to Bloomington, Indiana, and the Hoosiers are the higher seed, but Penn State and Indiana will match up in another win-or-go-home scenario in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Nittany Lions come into the tournament seeking momentum after ending a three-game winless streak by defeating Michigan in their regular season finale.
In that contest, the blue and white nearly doubled its average scoring output finding the back of the net three times without either of their top two point-getters recording a point.
Instead it was Van Danielson scoring twice to double his season total to four goals, all of which came in conference play. With the redshirt-freshman leading the way, senior Andrew Privett notched his second goal of the season to put the Nittany Lions ahead for good.
Normally for Jeff Cook’s squad, it’s Peter Mangione and Liam Butts leading the scoring efforts for an offense that averaged 1.73 goals per game throughout the regular season. With neither Mangione nor Butts, who was missing in action, scoring a goal, it was the first time in five contests that at least one of them didn’t find the back of the net.
So far, Mangione followed his success from last season, when he was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, by recording eight goals and 18 points, both of which lead the team and are already better marks than last season.
As for Butts, after two less successful seasons since a freshman campaign in which he recorded nine goals and 19 points, the senior has recorded seven goals and 17 points thus far.
Butts and Mangione combined for nine of their 15 goals once conference play opened, including both of them getting a score past Bryant Pratt in the regular season matchup with Indiana.
Pratt allowed two goals while making one save against the Nittany Lions in mid-October.
The redshirt-senior appeared in three more games after getting the win against the Nittany Lions to finish the regular season with a record of 5-1-2 while recording 1.48 goals against average and a save percentage of .450.
Not to be outdone by Pratt though, is JT Harms. Harms received playing time in two more games than Pratt including the 1-1 draw with No. 8 Maryland to end the cream and crimson regular season.
The junior goalkeeper has the upperhand with a 1.28 goals against average and a .692 save percentage, but is 3-2-4 on the year.
One of the reasons for the discrepancy in the two goalkeepers’ records is due to the up-and-down scoring for a Hoosier offense averaging 1.88 goals per game.
In the previous meeting for Penn State, Pratt recorded the win following an offensive outburst that tied the season-high for Indiana with four goals scored.
It was Joey Maher, Herbert Endeley, Ryan Wittenbrink and Brett Bebej who snuck goals by Kris Shakes.
That same offense, which is led by Wittenbrink and Tommy Mihalic, who have combined for 13 goals and 34 points, scored just two goals over the final two starts of the season for Harm.
Whether it is Harm or Pratt as the last line of defense for Indiana, Kris Shakes will be that for Penn State.
Shakes was shaky in his start against Indiana, which came after he missed a game due to injury, allowing the most amount of goals of his senior campaign.
Outside of that game, the Florida native was solid, posting a 1.57 goals against average and .728 save percentage on 59 saves while starting 14 of 15 regular season contests for Penn State.
While both teams can find different takeaways from the regular season matchup, the only thing that matters now is the 90 minutes of action starting at 7 p.m. on Friday that could make or break the season for Penn State and Indiana.
Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
