Oct. 27, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Before Sunday, Michael Gonzalez was a little used defender who had received only 32 minutes of playing time for the Penn State men's soccer team all season.
Now, he's the player who got the Nittany Lions' season back on track.
Thrust into the starting lineup against Wisconsin, the redshirt junior scored his first career goal on a 30-yard blast in double overtime to give Penn State a much needed 2-1 victory after three straight losses.
"It was a good feeling," Gonzalez said afterwards. "All game we were trying to switch the ball quickly across the field and it was the first time we really did that successfully. I took a big step and they were pretty compact in the back. I figured why not."
Gonzalez found out he was starting a few days earlier when center midfielder Owen Griffith was ruled out with an injury, forcing Mason Klerks to move to midfield and opening up a slot on the backline for the Berwyn, Pa. native.
When head coach Bob Warming made the decision, the first thing he told the defender was to not be afraid to shoot if given the chance.
The reasoning was simple. While Warming and all the Nittany Lions know the strongest part of Gonzalez's game is his shot, the Badgers obviously had no clue, having never faced him before.
"[In practice] we worked on him and I told him, 'Mikey I don't think you're in the scouting report so don't worry about that,'" Warming said with a chuckle. "He can kill a ball. He said to me, 'I get a chance like that to score and I don't, I'm going to be so angry.'"
Gonzalez didn't just score arguably the biggest goal of the Nittany Lions season so far. He also played the game's entire 105 minutes, quite a feat considering he played all of 131 minutes last season.
For someone who ended up as the star of the game in his first career start, the 5-foot-8, 165-pound defender was surprisingly calm and laidback afterwards.
"I don't care who scored. I mean, I'm happy it was me sure, but as long as we won the match that's all that really matters," Gonzalez said. "I've been working hard all year so I was ready. Whether it's your first career start or you're 100th career start you get more comfortable as the game goes on."
As modest as he was, the redshirt junior didn't really need to talk about himself. Senior center back Eli Dennis was more than willingly to give him praise.
"He hits balls like that all the time," Dennis said. "As soon as he hit that big touch up, I was saying to myself, 'do it' and I'm so happy he did it."
The moment was certainly great for Gonzalez, but it really can't be overstated how important the win was for the team in general, especially since it came on senior day.
With three straight losses dampening their spirits after a terrific 10-0-1 start, the Lions were less than six minutes away from tying the Badgers before Gonzalez delivered to give his seven graduating teammates a day to remember.
"It's a close-knit group of guys and everyone's really supportive and positive," Gonzalez said. "I was happy to deliver for the team so it was a great feeling."
The stunning finish came after just over 64 minutes of scoreless soccer. While Drew Klingenberg got the Lions on the board early in the 17th minute, the Badgers answered five minutes before halftime with a Joe Naughton shot that deflected off a Penn State defender and trickled by Andrew Wolverton.
For Warming, the game and especially the ending felt particularly familiar.
Last year on senior day against Northwestern, the Lions also went into double overtime tied 1-1 before a Jordan Tyler goal in the 108th minute gave them a 2-1 victory.
"Kind of like Déjàvu," Warming said. "We've got a lot of soccer left, and actually another home game [against Akron on Nov. 5] which will be a big game NCAA seeding wise."
While Warming was happy for his seniors and the entire team in general for getting back in the win column, he was especially pleased for Gonzalez.
After all, it's not everyday that a player getting his first career start wins you a game with a rocket shot in double overtime.
"Those are the kinds of things, you know if Connor [Maloney] scored another goal, everyone would be like, "Oh good goal man, Connor scored again," Warming said. "When a guy who comes off the bench does it, it's whole different emotion for the entire team. Like man this is great and there's hope for everybody."