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Oct. 2, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Penn State men's soccer team was unable to come away with its first road victory of the 2016 campaign, falling to the University of Michigan 2-0 in a Big Ten Conference match Sunday, Oct. 2 at the U-M Soccer Stadium.
The Nittany Lions (4-5-1, 2-2-0 B1G) totaled 12 shots in the match, three of which tested keeper Evan Louro, while the Wolverines (2-6-3, 1-4-0 B1G) had 18 shots with nine shots on goal.
The Canadian duo of Aymar Sigue (St Albert, Alberta) and Dayonn Harris (Milton, Ontario) had all three shots on goal for the Blue and White with Sigue putting two on net and Harris having one. Seniors Connor Maloney (Harrisburg, Pa) and Riley Grant (Copley, Ohio) each took one shot for the Nittany Lions. Penn State split time in net with redshirt-junior Evan Finney (San Francisco, Calif) making five saves in the first half before Arie Ammann (Round Hill, Va.) started the second half, making two saves and giving up two goals in the loss.
Jack Hallahan paced the Wolverines, tallying the game-winner in the second half of the match, while Francis Atuahene had a team-high six shots and scored his fourth goal of the season for Michigan. The Maize and Blue had five players have multi-shot games and two with multiple shots that tested the Penn State keepers. Louro made three saves in the afternoon match to earn the win in net for the Wolverines.
The Michigan offense peppered Penn State throughout the entire first half outshooting the Nittany Lions 9-4 and putting five shots on net for Finney. The Blue and White saw a shot from C. Maloney that barely missed the top right corner and the Wolverines best chance came when Atuahene found the back of the net but was called back due to being offside.
Entering the match to start the second half, Ammann made a huge diving save to his left on a shot inside the box for the Nittany Lions that led to a Michigan corner kick. The corner kick turned into a Michigan goal as the ball was passed out to Hallahan who worked his way past the Penn State defender and placed a shot off his left foot into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Wolverines a 1-0 advantage in the 62nd-minute.
Ten minutes later, Rylee Woods would send a long deep cross to the head of Atuahene, who leaped over a Penn State defender to head the ball into the upper left corner of the net and extend the Michigan lead to 2-0 in the 73rd-minute of the match.
The Nittany Lions continued to look for goals late in the second half when Harris just missed the bottom right corner when he hit the post on a set piece and again when his shot was barely saved by Louro.
The Blue and White were unable to get the ball past Louro, suffering its second Big Ten Conference loss of the season.
The Nittany Lions will take a six-day break before heading to Bloomington, Ind. for a 7:30 p.m. match against Indiana.