Sept. 22, 2014 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- When the Penn State men's soccer team celebrated Mack Brady's life during a game against California last season, it was Kyle MacDonald's heroics that forced a 1-1 tie.
On the same day this year, the midfielder went a step further by giving his team a victory.
Against Ohio State on the second annual "Mack Brady Game," MacDonald's goal 18 minutes into the second half was the only score of the game as the Nittany Lions defeated the Buckeyes 1-0.
"Ohio State, credit to them, they played really strong defensively," MacDonald said. "[The goal] broke the tension of the game and everything settled down from there."
A redshirt-junior, MacDonald has now scored just two career goals, yet both of them have come on arguably the most special day of Penn State's season.
Sunday's game marked the second straight year that Penn State soccer has honored Mack Brady, the son of Penn State Schreyer's Honors College Dean Christian Brady, who passed away unexpectedly from a blood infection on Dec. 31, 2012 at the age of eight.
MacDonald, an architectural engineering major and a member of Schreyer's, provided the day's highlight for the second straight year, beating Buckeyes goalie Alex Ivanov to a back heel pass from Connor Maloney, before maneuvering around the keeper and firing the ball into the empty net.
"Being the Mack Brady game, we're playing for more than just our team, we're playing as a Penn State community," MacDonald said. "We're playing for the Brady family...to have that all in my mind, it was great to put one away."
Mack Brady was an aspiring goalie, so it was only fitting that the play of both goalies dominated nearly the entire game.
For almost 90 minutes, the Nittany Lions created opportunity after opportunity yet were unable to get the ball past Ivanov more than once.
In total, Penn State took 22 shots, getting 11 of them on net, giving the Ohio State keeper an astounding 10 saves.
With three minutes to go in the first half, Mark Wadid had a great opportunity come up short when he hit the right side of the net, and Mikey Minutillo (three), Connor Maloney (two) and Brian James (two) all got multiple shots on net during the contest.
"Sometimes when you don't get a goal and you've been trying and things haven't gone your way, sometimes you can start losing a little faith," head coach Bob Warming said. "I was giving them a lot of instructions, and I thought, man you know what, I just need to tell these guys they're really good. Stay the course, pick up the tempo, it's going to happen, games are won in the second half and you're going to win."
In order to secure the win, the Nittany Lions needed a clutch performance from their own goalie.
Andrew Wolverton has long been the backbone of Penn State's team, but for most of Sunday he bided his time as his defense took care of business and the Buckeyes got just three shots on net.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, with the score still knotted at 0-0, Wolverton showed why he is the reigning Big Ten Goalie of the Year, making a brilliant kick save on a shot by forward Danny Jensen.
"It's just something you've got to do," Wolverton said of staying focused during a day with little action. "The communication helps me stay focused but it's part of the job. The defense did awesome and kept them to a few shots."
Wolverton, who like his backups Danny Sheerin and Evan Finney wears a patch on the back of his jersey in honor of Mack, said the shutout was extra special.
Not just because it put him in second place on the Nittany Lions all-time shutout list with his 28th scoreless effort, but also because it came on the day dedicated to the boy that idolized him.
"It's a tragedy what happened, but for us to celebrate such a great little kid's life is an honor to us," Wolverton said. "Something we have hanging up in our locker room is `we're living Mack's dream.' It's all for the support of their family.
The win improves the Blue and White to 6-0-1 on the season, but it was the Brady family that was on everyone's mind after the game.
"I love them all and it's wonderful to have an opportunity to celebrate [Mack's] life," Warming said. "To have a Schreyer's Honors College guy do it made it even more special."