Sept. 20, 2009
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Penn State men's soccer team dropped a 3-0 decision to James Madison (5-1) on Sunday afternoon at the JMU Soccer Complex, dipping its record to 4-3 on the season.
The Nittany Lions were playing their second road game in two days and without sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Arment (Manheim, Pa.), who sustained a red card in Friday's 2-1 loss to Old Dominion. Redshirt sophomore Marco Ciarla (Potomac, Md.) drew his first career start in Arment's place.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Warren Gross (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), who left the ODU game with an injury midway through the first half, started today's contest but re-aggravated the injury and played just 45 minutes. Bryan Heffner (Gaithersburg, Md.), a redshirt freshman, finished out the game between the pipes.
Penn State was outshot for the game, 13-9, and James Madison had an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal. Senior forward Jason Yeisley (Allentown, Pa.) led the Lions in shots (3) and shots on goal (2).
James Madison broke a scoreless tie at the 25:00 minute mark when Bill Swetra scored off a thrown in. The Dukes would go on to add two more goals in the span of five minutes in the second half to secure the win.
Sophomore defender Justin Lee (Derwood, Md.) was issued a red card in the second half, forcing the Nittany Lions to play down a man for the game's final 19-plus minutes.
The Nittany Lions return home this week to kick off a three game home stand, beginning on Wed., Sept. 23 when it hosts in-state foe Lehigh (3-2-1) at 7 p.m. at Jeffrey Field. Penn State is 12-2-3 all-time versus the Mountain Hawks but lost last season's match-up in Bethlehem, 2-1. The Lions will then open Big Ten play on Sun., Sept. 27 when Michigan (6-1-0) visits Happy Valley for a 2 p.m. contest. Penn State has won its last two meetings with Michigan at Jeffrey Field.