Oct. 25, 2016
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Penn State men's soccer senior Connor Maloney (Harrisburg, Pa.) was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 23. The award marks the first of the season and second of his career as a Nittany Lion. Furthermore, it is the fourth time a Penn State player has earned a Big Ten weekly award in the 2016 season and the second consecutive week a Nittany Lion was honored by the conference office as Evan Finney (San Francisco, Calif.) earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week accolades Oct. 18.
Maloney paced Penn State in its two matches last week, earning seven points with three goals and one assist. The senior midfielder led the Nittany Lions to a 2-2 double overtime tie with No. 22 Akron, scoring twice in the match. Maloney first scored early in the second half off a pass from Pierre Reedy (Kutztown, Pa.) before finding the back of the net for what would be the short-lived go-ahead goal against the Zips.
Moving into the match against Rutgers, Maloney scored in the 75th-minute of the match for the Blue and White before passing the ball to Aymar Sigue (Alberta, Canada) in the double overtime period on the winning goal to tally the assist. Maloney's 18 points on the season, seven goals and 0.50 goals per game currently rank third in the Big Ten Conference while the senior midfielder ties for second in shots (51) and ranks second in shots per game (3.64).
Maloney and five of his teammates will celebrate Senior Night at Jeffrey Field tonight against Wright State. The Nittany Lions and the Raiders clash on the field at 7 p.m. with a senior presentation to follow directly after the match.
Following the home finale, Penn State will travel to Evanston, Ill. for a 1 p.m. ET contest Sunday, Oct. 30 to conclude the 2016 regular season against Northwestern.