Sept. 12, 2017
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September 12, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team was unable to pick up a road win in its first Big Ten Conference match of the 2017 season, falling 3-0 to Ohio State at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Tuesday, Sept. 12.
The Nittany Lions fall to 1-2-2 overall on the season and 0-1-0 in conference action while the Buckeyes improve to 5-1-0 overall and 2-0-0 in conference play.
The Blue and White struggled against the tough OSU defense, putting just one shot on goal from freshman Callum Pritchatt (Kinghurst, Birmingham) and totaling nine shots. After a scoreless first half, the Buckeyes netted all three of their goals in the second 45 minutes of action to earn its fifth victory of the season.
Redshirt-senior goalkeeper Evan Finney (San Francisco, Calif.) suffered the loss in net, saving three shots in the match for the Blue and White.
Both squads were feeling out the field conditions in the first half of play as the rain started to fall at the first whistle. Ohio State found the net two times, while the Nittany Lions were unable to put a shot on net in the first 45 minutes of play.
After a slow first half, a foul 26-yards out proved costly for the Blue and White when Niall Logue put the free kick into the bottom left corner for the Buckeyes in the 50th minute of the match. Ohio State's offense struck again five minutes later when Nate Kohl brought the ball up the field flicked a left-footed shot past Finney into the bottom left corner of the net.
Penn State's lone shot on net came in the 67th minute when Pritchatt took a shot 30-yards out on the left side of the pitch against a tough defensive line.
Ohio State added one final security goal in the 85th minute of the match to earn its second Big Ten Conference victory of the season.
The Blue and White return to Jeffrey Field for the Fifth Annual Mack Brady Match Sunday, Sept. 17 against No. 3 Maryland. The Nittany Lions and the Terrapins are set to start at 5 p.m. following the women's match against Illinois at 1 p.m.