Penn State Men’s Soccer Shutout by Pitt 1-0
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lions took on the No. 15 Pittsburgh Panthers Monday night at Jeffrey Field and the in-state rivals left it all on the pitch. The Panthers would come away victorious defeating the Nittany Lions 1-0.
The lone goal in the game was scored in the sixth minute on a perfect pass from Jasper Loeffelsend that set up Rodrigo Almeida for the score. The goal for Almedia was his fifth on the season.
The Panthers took control of the game early and pushed the pace for the first 30 minutes of the game.
Penn State head coach, Jeff Cook, was not happy with the fact his team came out of the gate slow “The first goal gave them a lot of momentum” Cook said, “They were very dominant in possession for the first thirty minutes.”
After their slow start, the blue and white began to pick up their play much to the pleasure of Cook. “I was very impressed with how his team responded for the rest of the game after the slow start,” Cook said, “I’m really encouraged by what I saw, especially in the second half”
In the second half, the Nittany Lions had a couple of chances to tie the game but they just could not find the back of the goal despite some stand-out performances.
One of those standout performers was senior forward Daniel Bloyou, who was subbed on in the 30th minute and never left the field after. Bloyou had a controversial offsides call on what could have been the potential tying goal midway through the second half.
“I anticipate I will be very frustrated watching those back on tape,” Cook said.
Cook was also proud of the performance of senior defender Brandon Hackenberg as he showed a large display of defensive skills, and made huge plays for the blue and white backline including a goal-saving slide tackle in the late stages of the game.
Both sides played extremely aggressively as the game ended with 18 fouls, including six yellow cards. The Panthers committed 11 fouls and had four yellow cards compared to the Nittany Lions’ seven fouls and two yellow cards.
Pittsburgh ended up leading the shot category with 16 shots with four on goal while Penn State had five shots with three of those on target.
The Panthers now move to 4-2-0 on the young season as the Nittany Lions drop to 3-2-1
Penn State will look to get back into the win column on Friday as they begin Big 10 play with a matchup against Northwestern at Jeffrey Field.
Charlie Knezevic is a third year majoring in broadcast journalism at Penn State University. To contact him, email charlieknez@gmail.com.
