Men's Soccer Draws with St. Francis

March 29, 2015

PENN STATE vs. ST. FRANCIS (PA.)

11

Saturday, Mar. 28 | Holuba Hall| University Park, Pa.

MATCH LINKS

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw with in-state rival Saint Francis (Pa.), Saturday evening in Holuba Hall. The Nittany Lions and Red Flash squared off in spring exhibition action as SFU put through a goal in the first half and PSU netted one of its own in the final 45 minutes.

Brian James (Sunrise, Fla.) scored the equalizer in the second half on a scintillating run with the ball where he beat three defenders and curl the ball inside the far post from 18 yards out. 

Penn State started six players who played sparingly or redshirted in the fall season.  Most of them played nearly the entire 90 minutes again the Red Flash.   The Lions were down 1-0 at the half off a quick transition on a turnover on the left side.  

"Brian James continues to evolve his game and his angles of support are getting better and better," said head coach Bob Warming. "We're certainly going to need to get more consistent play from some of the rest of our players and much better communication within the team the rest of the spring."

With the tie Penn State moves to 2-0-1 on the spring season. Saturday's match also marked the final spring exhibition in Holuba as the Futbol team's next scheduled home tilt will be out in the elements at Jeffrey Field.

"After scoring nine goals in the first two matches and not allowing a goal I thought this was a good test for some guys who haven't seen a ton of playing time," Warming added. "Saint Francis pressed defensively very well, were organized and motivated to play hard."

SFU was also without their head coach of eight seasons after Michael Casper joined the Notre Dame staff as an assistant this past weekend.

"Despite losing their fine coach to Notre Dame, they look like a unified team," Warming commented. "With All-American Francis De Vries at center back returning and the Rezende twins who have been playing with professional clubs in Spain and Italy the last two years leading the attack, they're going to be a handful for a lot of teams."

Warming's club will next travel to Baltimore, Sunday, Apr. 12 to take on Loyola (Md.) before making their 2015 debut on the Jeffrey Field pitch for a Sunday, Apr. 19th contest with the Vaughan Soccer Club out of Ontario.