Penn State Men’s Soccer Tops Duquesne

Story posted September 23, 2013 in CommRadio, Sports by Tim Alvarez

Penn State (4-2-1) won a dominating game over the Duquesne Dukes (3-3), on their third game-winning goal of the season from Mark Wadid in the 65th minute of the game. Penn State held off a late Duke’s charge to secure the 1-0 victory. The aggressive Nittany Lions had many chances in the game to score, but it took them 65 minutes to finally break through. 

Penn State came out very aggressive in the first half, pressing for a goal in the first couple of minutes. The Nittany Lions had three corner kicks in the first eight minutes of the game. Once Duquesne recovered, the first half turned into an up-and-down affair with both teams getting their chances. The Penn State defense turned back the Dukes multiple times with great plays from both Martin Seiler and Akil Howard.

The Dukes’ goalkeeper, Sam Frymier, did everything he could to keep his team in the game. Frymier had a couple of great saves against an attacking Penn State team, especially one in the 61st minute, when he stone walled a one-on-one opportunity from Mark Wadid. The Nittany Lions had the last word with Wadid finally punching his third opportunity through in the 65th minute. Eli Dennis had a fantastic assist on the play, just placing the ball over the Duke’s center to find a wide-open Wadid, who would not be denied.

“I got the ball, they told me to turn and I realized I was wide open,” Dennis said of the assist. “Shane was making a run across and I think the center went back with Shane and mark just opened up.”

This was the third game-winning goal in Wadid’s career. Head coach Bob Warming has shown faith in the freshman and that faith has been rewarded with his forward’s phenomenal play.

Penn State is entering a tough stretch in their schedule and Coach Warming knew this would be a big game. The Lions had a couple of good combination plays during the game eventually leading to Wadid’s goal.

“The combination play for the goal was big time, I thought the first twenty minutes of the game we played well,” said Warming. “But then the guys started to hit the home run ball too much, I challenged the guys at halftime really strongly that we had to get the ball in and had to play the ball in.”

Penn State controlled the ball for most of the game in Duquesne’s half of the field. The play from defenseman, Howard helped to keep the pressure on the Dukes. Howard, with help from his fellow defenseman Martin Seiler repeatedly turned back every one of the Duke’s opportunities in the game, especially in the first half.

Howard kept pressure on the Duke’s by getting the ball quickly back into their half of the field. In the second half, after Wadid’s goal the Dukes started pressing trying to get that game-tying goal. Andrew Wolverton made a fantastic save with 17 minutes left in the game, reaching with one arm to tip away a Duquesne header. Wolverton made a couple more excellent saves to secure the win for Penn State.

Tim Alvarez is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email tva5063@psu.edu.