Penn State Men’s Soccer Falls to No. 3 Maryland

Story posted September 17, 2017 in CommRadio by Mason Gallina

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. –Sebastian Elney scored the game winning goal in the game as the Maryland Terrapins (6-0-1, 2-0-1 Big Ten) defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions (1-3-1, 0-2-0 Big Ten) 2-0 on Sunday night at Jeffrey Field.

Penn State recorded a solid first half against the No. 3 ranked Terrapins, going into the locker room at the half with the score knotted at zero. Maryland scored just four minutes into the second half to take the lead.

Elney found the ball on his foot inside the Penn State six-yard box after a corner kick from midfielder Eryk Williamson. After multiple deflections and scrambles, the loose ball found itself in the back of the Lions’ net going off one of Penn State’s own defenders.

“We got unlucky,” said Penn State goalie Evan Finney. “Mitch [Bringolf] actually hit it in our own goal, it was tough, he couldn’t do anything about it.”

Maryland added to their shutout streak after Sunday’s game to bring it to a total of 397 minutes without conceding a goal. The Terrapins currently sit atop of the Big Ten with seven points in just three conference games.

Penn State had a tough outing as the frustration started to settle in for the blue and white after the halftime break. The Lions started playing extremely sloppy once Maryland took an early lead in the second half.

The Nittany Lions recorded 12 fouls in the loss.

Penn State continued to take their frustration out on each other, with teammates screaming at each other for every ill-advised pass or miss-hit ball.

Penn State’s Ethan Beckford received a straight red card after his illegal tackle on Maryland’s Jake Rozhansky about halfway into the second half. Beckford had a few quality chances in the first 45 where he weaved in and out of defenders, but was not able to finish off any of his chances.

“I thought there were moments tonight where I’m thinking were going to tie the game up,” Penn State head coach Bob Warming said. “Some guys will have belief and then we’ll move forward.”

Penn State continued to push even while down a man, seeing many quality chances. The Nittany Lions nearly equalized the game in the 82nd minute when Christian Sload connected on an Aaron Molloy corner kick with his head that was going straight into the upper corner before it was cleared off the line by a Terrapin defender.

Shortly after, while Penn State was desperately pushing looking for the equalizing tally, Maryland’s Williamson found himself all alone against Finney on a breakaway in the 88th minute where he simply chipped the ball over Finney’s head to add a second goal for Maryland to secure the win.

This was Maryland’s seventh straight win over Penn State and 23rd win in the all-time series.

The Penn State Nittany Lions next take on Detroit Mercy Wednesday night at 7p.m. at Jeffrey Field.

 

Mason Gallina is a senior majoring in print journalism. To contact him, email mason.gallina13@gmail.com.