August 31, 2017
| PENN STATE at UC IRVINE | | | | 0-1-0 | 1-1-0 |
| | Friday, Sept. 1 | 10 p.m. ET
Irvine, California Anteater Stadium | |
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| PENN STATE at LOYOLA MARYMOUNT | | | | 0-1-0 | 0-2-0 |
| | Sunday, Sept. 3 | 7 p.m. ET
Los Angeles, California Sullivan Field | |
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HEADING OUT WEST
The Nittany Lions will make their second trip to the west coast in two years as they face their first road challenge of the 2017 year Friday, September 1. The Blue and White will take on UC Irvine at 10 p.m. ET on Friday before closing out the weekend at Loyola Marymount Sunday, September 3 at 7 p.m. ET.
CONNECTIONS WITH PLAYING IN CALIFORNIA
Penn State has three student-athletes who have either grown up in California or played in California in their lifetime. Redshirt-senior goalkeeper Evan Finney grew up in San Francisco, California before heading to IMG Pendleton to play high school soccer. Also having careers out west are junior transfer Ryan Holland and sophomore transfer Kyle Perno. Holland played two years at Feather River Junior College where he scored six goals in his sophomore season propelling him to Golden Valley Conference Defensive MVP honors, while he helped the team to the Elite 8 in his freshman season. Perno comes to Penn State after playing one year at UC Santa Barbara where he appeared in 10 games, starting three as the left back.
PENN STATE IN THE GOLDEN STATE
The 2017 season marks the second-straight year that the Nittany Lions will travel out to California as they came back with a tie and a loss in the 2016 season. The Blue and White are 7-11-3 all-time in the Golden State having taken on six different schools. However, Penn State does not have much familiarity with UC Irvine or Loyola Marymount as it is the first program meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Anteaters and Sunday's contest will mark just the second meeting between Penn State and the Lions. The Blue and White earned the win in the lone meeting between the two squads in a 3-0 contest at Jeffrey Field in the 2015 campaign.
SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine started its season on the road, traveling to Kentucky for two matches against No. 9 Louisville and Northern Kentucky going 1-1 on the weekend. The Anteaters suffered a 2-1 loss to Louisville before closing out the weekend with a 5-2 victory over NKU.
UC Irvine has seen six goals from six different players to start its season including freshman Alvaro Quezada finding the back of the net in his second collegiate start. In goal, Greg Patenaude has played all 180:00 minutes of action, giving up 2.00 goals per game and making five saves.
SCOUTING LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
The Lions will be in search of their first win of the 2017 season this weekend as they fell twice in opening weekend. Loyola Marymount traveled to Seattle to play matches against Seattle and Washington. Furthermore, LMU will be looking for its first goals of 2017 as it was shut out in its first two contests.
Loyola Marymount has taken nine shots this season, putting four on goal, while giving up 34 shots and three goals in its first two matches. Collin Partee has earned the start in net for both contests, making 15 saves.
NITTANY LIONS MAKE PENN STATE DEBUT
Five Nittany Lions made their Penn State debuts against Hofstra as Ethan Beckford, Aaron Molloy, Kyle Perno and Callum Pritchatt made their first starts donning the Blue and White and Ryan Holland came in as a sub in the second half.
Beckford played 66 minutes in his first collegiate start with two shots, while Molloy played all but four minutes of the match with one shot on goal. Pritchatt held down the backline for the entirety of the match, Perno played 62 minutes for the Blue and White and Holland played eight minutes in the second half of action in his Penn State debut.
CONTROLLING THE BALL
Despite its tough loss against Hofstra in the season opener, Penn State controlled the ball for the majority of the match. The Nittany Lions outshot the Pride 15-9 with five shots on goal compared to Hofstra's two.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State returns to Jeffrey Field Friday, September 8 when it takes on in-state foe Saint Francis at 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions hold a 12-2-0 overall advantage over the Red Flash, however, Saint Francis took home a 3-1 victory over the Blue and White at Jeffrey Field.
