Sept. 16, 2013
By Mike Esse, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - On a night where pride, friendship, resiliency and honor were on display on the inaugural Mack Brady Night, the way the Penn State men's soccer team competed with No. 5 ranked Cal was almost perfect.
The Nittany Lions tied the Golden Bears 1-1 after playing two overtime sessions with either team being unable to notch a goal in the extra 20 minutes.
Nevertheless, the message put forth by the Penn State soccer program, athletic department and community outweighs the end result of the soccer match.
"The athletic department was just fantastic tonight," said head coach Bob Warming. "We have a first class athletic department to do the things that they did tonight for a special member of our community."
Warming's squad could have given up on Friday night after a goal by Steve Birnbaum in the 20th minute in the early stages of the first half and going over 70 minutes of being shutout by one of the nation's best teams.
They were able to look at the Brady family and the motivation provided by them and the cause they were supporting with the patch in honor of the late Mack Brady and tie the game in the 77th minute on Kyle MacDonald's first career goal in the blue and white.
"We had the ball on the right wing, Owen put in a great job to get to a dangerous position down on the line, kept his head up and crossed the ball and I saw the defenders crashing toward the goal and put it away," said MacDonald.
As soon as MacDonald's goal found the net, Jeffrey field erupted. Not only because the game was tied, but because it was tied for Mack Brady and his family. That's who Penn State was playing for Friday night.
"Right from the start of the game, the address that Dean Brady gave set the tone for the whole game," said MacDonald. "It wasn't about us tonight, it was more about the Penn State community and how they got behind Mack Brady and the Bradys.
"This game really meant much more than a soccer game."
Goalkeeper Andrew Wolverton sat in between the pipes just a few feet away from the new Mack Brady logos on the pitch of Jeffrey Field and all he could think about was the patch on the back of his jersey.
"The whole time (Mack) was in the back of my mind and I wish I could have gotten the shut out for him, but that's a good team so letting up one goal is not terrible," said Wolverton.
Despite allowing the goal, the Nittany Lions did something that defines the legacy Mack Brady left behind.
They had each others backs.
Akil Howard proved that late in the 88th minute when Cal had a clear chance on net after getting past Wolverton and Howard came out of nowhere to deny the goal and negate any further scoring opportunities for the Golden Bears.
"That just shows that the whole team is committed to keeping the ball out of the net," said Wolverton. "It's not just me it's the whole team and that was a prime example of it."
Putting the draw aside, Warming sees the obvious positive out of his team's performance against Cal.
"The good news is if people tell me that is the best team in the country our guys have made a lot of progress the last two weeks," he said.
Penn State returns to Jeffrey Field on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Robert Morris.
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