Nov. 21, 2014
| PENN STATE vs. SYRACUSE | |
| Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. | |
| SU Soccer Stadium | Syracuse, N.Y. | |
| MATCH DAY CENTRAL |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | SYR | |
| 13-5-1 | Overall Record | 15-3-1 |
| 5-3-0 | Conference Record | 3-1-1 |
| 28 | Goals Scored | 34 |
| 16 | Goals Allowed | 9 |
| 1.47 | Goals Scored/gm. | 1.79 |
| 0.84 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 0.47 |
| 119-281 | Shots on Goal-Attempts | 124-268 |
| 14.8 | Shots/gm. | 14.1 |
| 29 | Assists | 29 |
| 104 | Corner Kicks | 161 |
| 63 | Saves | 63 |
| 10 | Shutouts | 12 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Fresh off their thrilling 2-1 NCAA Tournament opening round victory over Hartwick, the Penn State men's soccer team will travel to Syracuse to take on the No. 9 seeded Orange, Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. in New York. The Nittany Lions and Orange will be meeting up for only the third time in the last 50 years, despite having played 36 times since the series began in 1920. Penn State carries a 13-5-1 mark into the match and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second round for the second straight season. Syracuse had a bye for the first round and is 15-3-1, making its second postseason appearance in the last three years.
The match will be played at the SU Soccer Stadium and for fans not making the trip to upstate New York, live action can be seen free of charge by going to www.cuse.com for the official stream.
MATCH HEADLINES
• Penn State travels to Syracuse for an NCAA Tournament second round match
• Nittany Lions defeated Hartwick 2-1, (Nov. 20) at Jeffrey Field to advance
• Penn State is playing in its 32nd NCAA Tournament and holds a 28-30-1 record all-time
• PSU is 11-12-1 all-time in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and 5-22 on the road in the post-season
• Penn State and Syracuse have met a total of 37 times but never in the NCAA's
• The Lions are 1-6 vs. seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament with their lone win coming in the 2013 second round at UC Santa Barbara
• Syracuse enters Sunday's match following a 2-1 loss to Louisville in the ACC Tournament Semifinals (Nov. 14)
• The winner of PSU and SU's match will play either No. 8 Georgetown or Old Dominion on Sunday, Nov. 30 in the third round of the 48-team field
• Brett Gravatt's goal in the 74th minute vs. Hartwick on Thursday, was his first of the season and proved to be the game winner as PSU edged Hartwick 2-1 at Jeffrey Field
THE ROAD TO THE COLLEGE CUP
Penn State plays in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many seasons as it defeated Hartwick 2-1 in the first round to advance to take on Syracuse. The Nittany Lions face the Orange for the 37th time but for only the third time in the last 54 years.
PSU secured one of 24 at-large bids to the 48 team field and is playing in its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lions are 28-30-1 all-time during the NCAA's and hold a 5-22 record on the road during the postseason.
SERIES HISTORY
Penn State and Syracuse have played a total of 37 times during each program's storied history, but have never met in the postseason. The Lions and Orange did most of their meeting during the first half of the 20th century as both squads have squared off just nine times since the 1950 season. PSU has won 18 of the last 19 meetings dating back to 1937 but has dropped its last match by a 4-0 score on Aug. 31, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio during the Wolstein Soccer Classic.
BREAKING DOWN THE BRACKET
Penn State is one of four teams still alive in its portion of the NCAA bracket. The Lions advanced with their 2-1 win over Hartwick on Thursday to advance to take on No. 9 Syracuse. In the other first round match, Old Dominion defeated St. Francis (Brooklyn) 3-0 to advance to play No. 8 Georgetown. The winner of the Syracuse/Penn State contest will take on the victor from the Georgetown/ODU match-up, with the lowest seed hosting the third round match on Nov. 30.
COMMON ENEMIES
Penn State and the `Cuse share a handful of common opponents during the 2014 season, with three coming in the regular season and a pair during the exhibition slate.
Both schools have squared off against Big Ten foe Rutgers, with PSU shutting out the Scarlet Knights 1-0 on Oct. 4 and the Orange handing RU the same fate but a month earlier on Sept. 4. Penn State and Syracuse have also played St. John's and Bucknell during the 2014 season, with each team sweeping meetings with the two non-conference opponents. The Lions beat the Red Storm 3-0, Aug. 31 and took care of business with Bucknell on the road 2-0, on Oct. 1. SU downed the Johnies 1-0, Sept. 6, while they beat the Bison at home 4-1, on Oct. 21.
Syracuse and Penn State have also both played Hartwick and Akron, but SU tallied wins against the pair in the pre-season, while the Nittany Lions defeated Akron 1-0, Nov. 5 and the Hawks 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (Nov. 20), both at Jeffrey Field.
BREAKOUT BRETT
Penn State sophomore Brett Gravatt picked the perfect time to make his PSU presence known as the Akron transfer scored his first ever Nittany Lion goal Thursday night in the Lions' 2-1 NCAA Opening Round victory over Hartwick. The score was the eventual game winner, coming in the 74th minute and curled into the top left corner of the goal out of the reach of Hawks' goalie Tom Buckner. Gravatt has battled injuries this season, playing in 10 matches, starting a pair and firing off a half a dozen shots in 284 minutes of play.
LIONS LAST TIME OUT...
Two second half goals, capped off by Penn State sophomore Brett Gravatt's first of the season proved to be the difference as the Nittany Lions men's soccer team (13-5-1) defeated Hartwick (6-10-4), Thursday night at Jeffrey Field. Gravatt's score came in the 74th minute as both teams were tied at one apiece when the midfielder curled a shot into the top left corner of the net, sending the Lion bench and the fans at Jeffrey Field into a frenzy.
The score by Gravatt (Dunn Loring, Va.) was the second Penn State goal in a 14 minute stretch, after the Hawks took a 1-0 lead early in the second half. PSU's first score came off the foot of senior Mikey Minutillo (San Jose, Calif.), who took a pass from Drew Klingenberg (Gibsonia, Pa.) and squibbed the ball past Hawks' goalie Tom Buckner to even the match at 1-1.
The Lions had a man advantage over the Hawks for the better part of the second half, after Hartwick's Jamie O'Grady received his second yellow card of the contest following some extra-curricular activity on the sidelines. The ejection came in the 64th minute and Gravatt's goal followed ten minutes later.
Hartwick scored their lone goal less than a minute into the second half, when striker Jhevaughn Beckford snuck one past Lion keeper Andrew Wolverton (Atlanta, Ga.) to make it 1-0. Wolverton finished the night with one save to push his season total to 56.
JEFFREY FIELD DOMINANCE
Penn State has enjoyed success at Jeffrey Field with more than 300 victories at the famed facility. Impressively, the Nittany Lions have never posted a losing season at Jeffrey Field, going 316-81-34 all-time for a winning percentage of .773. Last season, PSU went 8-1-1 and since 2012 the Nittany Lions are 25-6-3 (.779) with a pair of Big Ten titles. Penn State is 10-3-0 this year at home and 18-4-1 the past two seasons. The Lions are 27-6-1 (.809) playing at Jeffrey Field in the NCAA Tournament.
JEFFREY FIELD FAITHFUL
In the 42-year history of the stadium, Jeffrey Field has welcomed 533,055 fans through its gates, including a season-high 4,052 in a 1-0 win over Temple (Sept. 5). PSU welcomed 5,944 fans on opening weekend in wins over Oakland and St. John's, while nearly 2,000 saw Penn State defeat Ohio State. PSU's 1-0 win over Rutgers had 2,532 fans on hand, which was the fourth-highest total of the season. Against Michigan State, 1,878 fans braved cool, wet conditions to cheer on the Nittany Lions. Penn State is averaging 1,706 fans per match in 13 contests with 22,172 fans coming to Jeffrey this year.
WOLVIE WATCH 2014
The Nittany Lions feature one of the top goalkeepers in the nation with senior Andrew Wolverton patrolling the goal area. The 2013 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year and NSCAA All-Great Lakes First Team honoree has returned with a pair of career Penn State records in his sights, one of which was achieved Sept. 28 at Michigan.
Wolverton currently sits first in PSU records in goals-against average (0.79) and shutouts (32). Already the single-season record holder in shutouts (12 in 2012), Wolverton eclipsed the career record in front of his family on Sunday, Sept. 28 with a clean sheet against Michigan.
As for GAA, Wolverton looks to break Whit Gibson's mark of 0.78 set during his two seasons in Happy Valley (1998-99). Wolverton's save percentage is also impressive at .792 to back up a 38-22-8 career record in net.
This season, Wolverton has racked up shutout streaks of 321 minutes, 22 seconds and 517 minutes, 42 seconds. The latter streak was to open the season as Wolverton was the final starting goalkeeper in Division I to allow a goal, which occurred on Sept. 24. He is 11-5-0 this season with nine shutouts.
Min. GA GAA SV Sv% SHO
2014 1616:13 15 0.84 56 .789 9
Career 6522:19 57 0.79 217 .792 32
AMONG THE CONFERENCE'S BEST
Penn State has been near the top of the conference charts in multiple statistical categories this season.
Team Ranks
Shots: 2nd (281)
Points: 3rd (85)
Goals: 3rd (28)
Assists: 3rd (29)
Goals Allowed: 3rd (15)
Shutouts: 2nd (10)
Corner Kicks: 4th (104)
Brian James Ranks
Assists: T-1st (7)
Connor Maloney Ranks
Goals: 3rd (9)
Points: 3rd (21)
Game-Winners: T-1st (5)
Mikey Minutillo Ranks
Shots: 2nd (64)
Goals: T-4th (8)
Points: 4th (20)
Game-Winners: T-4th (3)
Andrew Wolverton Ranks
Shutouts: T-2nd (9)
GAA: 4th (0.84)
Save Pct.: 4th (.789)
COACHING CLOUT
Among the elite coaches in the sport for the last three decades, head coach Bob Warming is back for his fifth season at Penn State. Warming has an incredible coaching pedigree, including 441 career Division I victories -- third all-time among active DI coaches and ninth all-time at D-I. He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013 after leading PSU to a pair of league titles. At Penn State, Warming picked up win No. 50 as the Lions won 3-0 over Saint Francis on Tuesday, Sept. 16. He is 58-33-11 at Penn State.
BIG TEN NETWORK SCHEDULE
Penn State was featured on the Big Ten Network three times this season. PSU's first nationally-televised match was Sept. 28 at Michigan (a 1-0 PSU win). Penn State traveled to preseason Big Ten top-pick Maryland on Oct. 12 for another BTN telecast, falling in College Park. On Oct. 26, Penn State played Wisconsin in a 2-1 Senior Day thriller. In 2013, PSU was on the network a total of three times.
NEXT TIME OUT
Should Penn State advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, the Nittany Lions would travel take on the winner of the No. 8 Georgetown and Old Dominion match. If Georgetown wins, the Lions would travel to D.C. to take on the Hoyas, but if the Monarchs upset G'Town, then PSU would host the third round match against ODU, slated for Sunday, Nov. 30.