Sept. 23, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The No. 16 Penn State men's soccer team dropped its Big Ten opener on Friday night, falling to No. 7 Indiana (6-0-2), 1-0, in front of 3,305 Hoosier faithful at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
After 77 minutes of scoreless, evenly-played action, Indiana was able to crack the stiff Penn State defense. Alec Purdie, the Big Ten's leading scorer, who had just recorded his first shot of the game minutes earlier, netted the game winner on a header with A.J. Corrado assisting. The goal was the first allowed by the Nittany Lions in over 465 minutes.
Penn State (5-2-1) had its chances to claim a lead in the first half. At one point, both junior Hasani Sinclair (Coral Gables, Fla.) and sophomore Jordan Tyler (Rochester, Mich.) had successive shots cleared off the line by IU defenders.
Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Wolverton (Snellville, Ga.) gave a standout performance in goal, coming off his line several times to thwart dangerous runs. He finished the game with two saves.
Penn State was outshot for the first time this season, with Indiana holding a 10-6 advantage. Corner kicks numbered 9-7 in favor of the Hoosiers.
Penn State will open a three game home stand next Tuesday when No. 23 Georgetown (4-1-2) visits Jeffrey Field for a 7 p.m. contest. The Hoyas, which currently reside in third place in the BIG EAST Blue Division, play Villanova in their conference opener on the road on Saturday before venturing to Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions have faced Georgetown just once in program history, a 3-2 PSU win in 2004 in an early season tournament hosted by Maryland.
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