Nov. 18, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- There's not much you can throw at the Penn State men's soccer team that it hasn't seen before.
After all, with every starter on the team at least a sophomore and five seniors seeing regular time in the lineup, the Nittany Lions have the experience to handle any situation.
This season alone, they've enjoyed plenty highs, fought through a few challenges, and with the NCAA Tournament kicking off this Thursday at home against Hartwick, they feel they have the necessary experience to make a serious run.
"It's going to be great," senior goaltender Andrew Wolverton said. "A lot of guys have been through this before and we know how to prepare, we know what it's going to be like. It's going to be hopefully a great atmosphere here on Thursday."
Last year, the Nittany Lions won twice in the NCAA Tournament en route to a trip to the Sweet 16. They return six starters from that group (Mason Klerks, Drew Klingenberg, Owen Griffith, Connor Maloney, Mike Robinson and Wolverton) as well as Eli Dennis and Kyle MacDonald, who have started for much of the season.
With so many players having not just played in the tournament but also having success there, there won't be much anxiety for the Blue and White leading up to Thursday. For the most part, it will simply be business as usual.
"I think we have enough experience in the NCAA tournament," Maloney said. "We've got a lot of older guys and a few new guys and I think we'll be ready and that'll get us through."
Out of all the players seeing regular time for the Nittany Lions, the only ones without NCAA Tournament experience are sophomore Brett Gravatt and junior Michael Gonzalez, who have both recently seen time in the starting lineup.
When asked what he advice he has given his less experienced teammates, Wolverton kept it simple. You've got to go about your business as usual, even if there is more at stake.
"Treat it as any other game honesty," Wolverton said. "Obviously, it's got that hype and everyone's going to be pumped up but you can't let it affect how you're going to play you've just got to be focused."
At the same time, Wolverton and his teammates know that Thursday's matchup against the Hawks is more important than a regular season game. If the Lions are going to keep playing into November, there can't be any margin for error.
Having been off since Nov. 9, Penn State will also enter the tournament extremely fresh and rested. With no games last week, the Lions spent the time relaxing and participating in light exercises to keep their fitness up.
After ramping up the intensity of their workouts over the weekend, the plan is spend the next few days going over the scouting report and watching video.
"This weekend, we had a couple of really tough practices, scrimmaged a lot, put a lot of running on their legs," head coach Bob Warming said. "[This week] we'll do our normal pregame routine that we do. Our guys are still in recovery mode, still got some guys nursing injures so we can't do too much right now. We're not going to lose fitness."
That extra preparation is one thing that Lions have over the Hawks, who played last Sunday when they defeated Georgia Southern 1-0 to win the Sun Belt Conference.
With the Hawks only having three days of rest in between games, the Lions will clearly have the advantage in both recovery and training.
"A lot of rest was key for right now," Maloney said. "We're pretty good right now, we're coming off a lot of rest and I think we'll be ready with practice this week, it'll be pretty light and we'll be ready.
"We've kind of had dinner and just been around each other in the locker room [last week], That just about it. A little bit of mental regeneration last week getting primed for this week."
The other difference between the Lions and the Hawks is the way the two squads made the tournament.
For the Hawks, qualifying required overcoming a 0-6-4 start by finishing the season 4-1 and winning their last three games.
Penn State on the other hand, has been a force throughout the season and enters the game with a 12-5-1 record. Now that the postseason is finally upon them, the Lions are looking forward to giving their fans a little more to cheer about.
"It never gets old, man, it never gets old," Warming said. "I had a lot of anticipation [waiting for the bracket to be announced]. I'm really happy for our guys, I'm happy for the body of work they've put together this year.
"The reason they're in is the body of work they've put together this year. Some teams got hot at the end of the year, this team got in because of what they've done throughout the year. I know they are primed to make great run at this thing."