Aug. 22, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team will play its second and final exhibition game of the 2008 preseason on Sat., Aug. 23 when in-state opponent Pitt visits Jeffrey Field for a 7 p.m. contest.
The Nittany Lions opened their preseason schedule earlier this week, falling to Marshall at home on Tuesday evening by a score of 1-0. Penn State outshot the Thundering Herd by a 15-3 margin, including a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal, despite playing without two of its top scorers in sophomore midfielder Drew Cost (West Chester, Pa.) and sophomore forward Treavor Gelsinger (Shady Grove, Pa.). Junior eligible midfielder Matheus Braga (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), seeing action for the first time in a Nittany Lion uniform, led Penn State with four shots while freshman midfielder MacKenzie Arment (Manheim, Pa.) came off the bench to total three. Redshirt freshman Warren Gross (Greenfield Center, N.Y.) and sophomore Liam Fitzwater (Schuylkill Haven, Pa.) split time evenly in goal.
Pitt is undefeated thus far in the preseason, downing Division II opponent California (Pa.), 2-0, on Aug. 18 and Mount Saint Mary's, 2-0, on Aug. 20. The Panthers posted a 3-13-2 record a year ago, including a 1-9-1 mark in BIG EAST play. Twenty-five year head coach Joe Luxbacher returns 14 letterwinners and eight starters from that squad, led by top scorer E.J. McCormick (4 goals, 1 assist) and veteran defender Matt Firster (49 career starts).
Fans can follow all of the action of the Penn State-Pitt exhibition on the Internet with live stats and instant scoring updates from Gametracker. Find a link on the official website of Nittany Lion athletics, www.GoPSUsports.com.
The 2008 regular season begins for Penn State on Fri., Aug. 29 at the Bert & Iris Wolstein Soccer Classic hosted by The Ohio State University. The Lions will kick off the year by taking on Central Florida in a match-up scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Penn State will wrap up opening weekend tournament play on Sun., Aug. 31 with a 12 p.m. contest against Florida Gulf Coast.