Sept. 5, 2016
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Sept. 5, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Behind a first Penn State career goal from junior transfer Aymar Sigue (St. Alberta, Alberta) the Nittany Lions picked up their second-straight home victory with a 2-1 overtime win over Oakland Monday, Sept. 5 at Jeffrey Field.
"First of all, I'm really proud of my guys," said Bob Warming. "This team [Oakland] beat Akron in the preseason. They got a few injuries and kind of had a little bit of a rough note and now they've had off since last Sunday. They didn't have a game like we did on Friday and they've licked their wounds. They looked pretty good and now I see how technical they are and how they could have beat Akron. I'm really proud of the guys for coming in and having the mentality at home that they're going to win the game in overtime."
The Blue and White (2-1-1) outshot Oakland (0-3-0) 15-13 on the evening and put nine shots on net compared to the Golden Grizzlies five. Playing just seven minutes in the match, Sigue fired off two shots on goal in the opening minutes of overtime and scored the game-winner, while Connor Maloney (Harrisburg, Pa.) tallied his third goal in as many games for Penn State. C. Maloney put three shots on net and Sigue and Robby Sagel (Las Vegas, Nev.) each had two for the Blue and White. Freshman keeper Arie Ammann (Round Hill, Va.) notched his second start and made three saves for the Nittany Lions.
Oakland saw five different players put shots on net, while Chase Jabbori scored the lone goal of the night for the Golden Grizzlies. Goalkeeper Zach Walker made five saves for OU and gave up two goals.
Penn State scored the first goal of the match for the third-straight contest when C. Maloney netted his third goal of the season on a free kick just outside the 18-yard box in the 16th-minute of the match.
The Blue and White looked to extend its lead in the closing minutes of the first half when Sagel found back-to-back headers that the Golden Grizzlies' defense was able to get in front of before it crossed the goal line.
Oakland had an odd-man rush in the 73rd-minute of the match when AJ Shaw brought the ball into the box and ripped a shot in the direction of Ammann. With a defender in front of him, Ammann made the diving save to his left side to keep Penn State in the 1-0 lead.
With five minutes remaining in the match, Oakland's Alex Serwatka made a blind pass to the center of the box where Chase Jabbori blasted a goal into the bottom right corner of the net to knot the score at 1-1.
The Blue and White were unable to take a lead in the remaining minutes of the match, sending it into its third overtime match of the 2016 season.
Minutes into the overtime match the Blue and White found the foot of Sigue inside the box. After entering the match late in the second half Sigue fired off a shot just inches from Walker who was able to grab the ball. However, the shot was too hard as it squeaked out of his hands, allowing Sigue to blast a shot into the lower half of the net for the game-winner.
The Nittany Lions will be back in action Friday, Sept. 13 when in-state foe Saint Francis comes to town for the tail end of a doubleheader with the women's soccer team. Penn State and the Red Flash will play at 8 p.m. at Jeffrey Field