Aug 30, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman Mark Wadid (Mississauga, Ontario) slipped past the Radford defense in the 69th minute of his collegiate debut to score the game-winning goal and lead the Penn State men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory Friday night at Jeffrey Field.
The Nittany Lions have won six consecutive season-opening games dating back to 2008. Penn State (1-0-0) will enjoy a one day break before returning to action Sunday night on Jeffrey Field at 7:00 p.m.
Locked in a scoreless draw with just over 20 minutes to play, redshirt junior Eli Dennis (Easton, Md.) played a through ball to Wadid in the center of the pitch. The freshman gathered the pass, beat a defender to the right and then drilled a shot inside the near post to score the lone goal of the game. It was Wadid's first collegiate goal and Dennis' first point in a Penn State uniform.
"I give a lot of credit to Jordan [Tyler] because in the second half he played a lot closer to [Mark Wadid] and actually drew the center back out and allowed Mark to come through for that run," said head coach Bob Warming."But that's what good strikers do -- they keep shooting and get goals."
It didn't take long for Wadid to make his presence known to the Radford (0-1-0) backline, as the rookie registered two shots in the first 20 minutes. Wadid's first shot sailed wide, and goalkeeper Dane Wilson corralled the second.
The Nittany Lions continued to pressure in the first half, as freshman Connor Maloney (Harrisburg, Pa.) made darting runs on the right flank. The speedy back delivered a pair of nice crosses, but Penn State could not finish the product.
As the second half commenced, redshirt junior Jordan Tyler (Rochester, Mich.), playing in his first game since 2011, got involved early. Tyler missed wide on a volley in the 55th minute, and then fired an excellent cross that Drew Klingenberg (Gibsonia, Pa.) hammered wide of the net.
Penn State did well to control the tempo in the final 20 minutes following Wadid's goal, but goalkeeper Andrew Wolverton (Atlanta, Ga.) came up big when called upon late. The 6'2" keeper made a massive save on a point-blank opportunity by Radford's Garland Smith to preserve the shutout in the 84th minute.
"That's the mark of a great goalkeeper," Warming said. "He didn't have much to do the entire game and the he came up with a big save."
Wolverton made five saves en route to tallying his 16th career shutout.