Late Goal from Mangione Lifts Penn State Past Ohio State 1-0

Story posted March 23, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Matt Scalzo

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — It was a tightly contested affair at Jeffrey Field on Tuesday night between Penn State and No. 25 Ohio State. After both teams struggled to get past each other’s defenses all game, it was the Nittany Lions who broke the scoreless tie in the 75th minute to win 1-0.

Freshman forward Peter Mangione was the hero in this one, as he received a cross from Seth Kuhn from the right corner to poke it past Buckeyes goalie Noah Lawrence.

“Delighted with the effort and concentration that our players displayed,” Penn State head coach Jeff Cook said about his team’s performance. “A great victory for us.”

It was a hard-fought match, and Penn State had to roll with the punches early before they started to control possession toward the end of the first half and into the second.

Penn State was strong defensively the whole night. Led by goalkeeper Kris Shakes and center back Brandon Hackenberg, the Nittany Lions thwarted the attack of Ohio State. Shakes picked up his second shutout of the year and sixth overall in the win.

“Just being locked in on defense, just keeping their concentration for 90 minutes of the game,” Shakes said about the role his teammates played in blanking the Buckeyes. “For me, I’m so happy to get another clean sheet.”

In the 75th minute after having his corner kick cleared, Kuhn sent the ball back into the box where Mangione converted on what would ultimately be the game-winning goal. It was Mangione’s third of the year, all of which have been game-winning goals.

“To come in as a freshman and contribute like this was my goal coming in,” Mangione said.

Tonight was going to be a special night for Penn State no matter the outcome since it was the eighth annual Mack Brady Match. Mack was a die-hard Penn State fan who dreamed of playing in net for the Nittany Lions, but he tragically died at the age of 8 from a blood infection.

“It means a lot,” Shakes said about what it means to win the Mack Brady Match. “Keeping a clean sheet in the Mack Brady game as well, that’s what I really wanted to achieve, and that’s what our backline has been working for, so it means the world to us.”

“This game is obviously a big day for the goalkeepers, just to honor Mack Brady in general,” Shakes continued.

The win elevates the Nittany Lions to 5-1 on the year and puts them tied for first in the Big Ten standings with Indiana. Penn State will look to stay hot as it welcomes the Wisconsin Badgers to Jeffrey Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.

 

Matthew Scalzo is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mms7477@psu.edu.

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Matt Scalzo

Third Year / Broadcast Journalism

Matthew “Matt” Scalzo is a third-year from Ridgefield, Connecticut majoring in broadcast journalism. Matt is a Basketball Insider, broadcaster and writer for the sports department. With CommRadio he has called football, hockey, basketball, baseball, volleyball and lacrosse games. Matt has called matches for Penn State Women’s Volleyball on both TV and radio. He has written countless articles and appeared on podcasts, live shows and is a host of the Chi-Town Sit-Down with Thomas English, which covers everything Chicago sports. Matt spent the 2022 summer as the Drector of Broadcasting & Media for the Sanford Mainers in the NECBL. If you want to contact him, email him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).