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Sept. 8, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team secured its second shutout of the 2015 season with a 2-0 victory over James Madison University in a mid-week non-conference match at Jeffrey Field Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The win marks just the second time in series history that the Nittany Lions have defeated the Dukes and the first time since the 1998 campaign.
With the win, Penn State moves to 2-1-1, while JMU falls to 0-2-1 on the season.
"The first half performance was 'ridiculous,'" said Head Coach Bob Warming. "We haven't beat James Madison since 1998. The most satisfying part, however, was the way the team took over. The win today was huge going into the Big Ten this weekend."
Freshman Mac Curran (York, Pa.) led a commanding attack against the Dukes, taking four shots, two of which were on goal, while notching his second goal of the year. Senior Brian James (Sunrise, Fla.) was also steady on offense for Penn State, putting three shots on net and scoring his first goal of 2015 with a free kick in the second half of the match.
Penn State outshot JMU 10-9, but put five shots on goal compared to the Duke's two. The Nittany Lion defense blocked numerous shots in the evening and Matt Bersano (Tempe, Ariz.) made two saves on the night, earning his second shutout of 2015.
The Nittany Lions were the first to put a shot on net in the mid-week contest when James fired a shot just outside the 18-yard box to the left of the keeper in the sixth-minute of the match.
Penn State struck offensively again when James got his foot on a JMU pass attempt sending the ball into the 18-yard box, but Curran was called offside just as he got the shot off in the first 10 minutes of the match.
Seconds after Kyle MacDonald (Yardley, Pa.) entered the match he set up a striking Curran inside the box. Curran took the bouncing ball and shot it out of the air into the middle of the left side of the net to give Penn State the 1-0 lead in the 25th-minute of the match. The goal marks the second of Curran's career and the first first half goal for the Nittany Lions in 2015.
MacDonald and Curran continued to find each other when MacDonald crossed the ball from the right side of the field into the box for Curran. The freshman took a hard shot on net, but Morton got just a fingertip on the ball to knock it wide.
Penn State controlled the ball for much of the first half, firing off four shots on goal with Curran and James getting two apiece. The defensive line held strong for the first 45 minutes, allowing only four shots, none of which reached the net.
The Nittany Lions opened up the second half with a great play in front of the net from the trio of Curran, MacDonald and Drew Klingenberg (Gibsonia, Pa.). Curran dribbled down the right side of the field before finding the foot of MacDonald. MacDonald made a great pass to Klingenberg, who was coming through the center of the box. Klingenberg wound up for the shot, putting it just above the crossbar and keeping the score at 1-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions.
James Madison first bit of offense in the second half came in the 56th-minute when an Eric Schmidt shot was blocked by the Penn State defense. The blocked shot was followed by back-to-back corner kicks for the Dukes, but they were unable to generate any further offense as the Nittany Lion backline stood strong.
In the 65th-minute of the match, JMU committed what would turn into a costly foul just a few feet outside the box. With a free kick in favor of Penn State, James launched a shot into the top left corner of the net extending the Nittany Lion advantage to 2-0 in the second half.
Bersano was tested for the first time of the evening in the 77th-minute when Schmidt got a cross high inside the box and headed toward the goal. Bersano easily grabbed the ball out of the air to maintain the Penn State 2-0 lead. Fans would see a similar play minutes later when Schmidt again took a header inside the box. Bersano leapt into air and snatched the ball before it could head into the top right corner of the net.
Schmidt continued to be the only offense for James Madison when he took a third-straight shot, this time sending it high over the net with 10 minutes left to play.
Penn State found one final scoring opportunity in the last minute of play when Curran jetted toward the net for a shot that went just wide of the goal. With time dwindling down, JMU was unable to put together any further offense, falling 2-0 to the Nittany Lions.
Penn State will be back in action Sunday, Sept. 13 for its first Big Ten Conference match of the 2015 season. The Nittany Lions will take on No. 10 Indiana at 1 p.m. at Jeffrey Field. The match will be the third annual Mack Brady Game and will also be featured on BTN.