Sept. 17, 2017
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Sept. 17, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team was unable to come away with a win in the Fifth Annual Mack Brady Match, falling 2-0 in a Big Ten Conference contest to the No. 3 Maryland Terrapins Sunday, Sept. 17 at Jeffrey Field.
The Nittany Lions (1-3-2, 0-2-0 B1G) battled the entire game, playing 18 minutes with only 10 players after getting a red card in the second half of play. The Blue and White were outshot 8-1 by Maryland (6-0-1, 2-0-1 B1G).
"One thing that is always important is belief," said head coach Bob Warming. "Sometimes players need to win matches to have belief, but our goal is to keep getting better and that is it. I thought there were moments tonight where we were even a man down and I was thinking that we were going to tie the game up. I think our guys will have some belief and we will move forward."
Penn State held Maryland scoreless in the first 45 minutes of action before giving up the game-winning goal in the 50th minute of play on a cross in front of the net. Penn State's best chance came in the 84th minute when sophomore Chrstian Sload (Reading, Pa.) got his head on a ball off a corner kick but a team save allowed Maryland to take home the win. Maryland added a security goal with just over one minute to play to lock up a 2-0 victory over the Nittany Lions.
Freshman Callum Pritchatt (Kinghurst, Birmingham) tallied Penn State's second shot of the match and Evan Finney (San Francisco, Calif.) made three saves in net.
Eryk Williamson led Maryland with one goal and an assist, while Sabastian Elney had the game-winning goal and Dayne St. Clair secured the shutout in net.
Finney was tested early in the match facing two one-on-one challenges in which he came up with the saves to keep the match scoreless in the 11th minute.
The remaining 34 minutes of the first half were a defensive battle between the two teams with Penn State packing the box on their defensive end of the pitch the keep the powerful Maryland offense from getting any further shots on net.
UMD outshot the Nittany Lions 4-1 in the first 45 minutes of play, putting two shots on goal.
The Terrapins found the back of the net in the 50th minute when Williamson brought the ball down the left side of the field and crossed in front of the net to a covered Elney. The rushing midfielder touched the ball lightly as he raced toward the net and the ball slowly crossed the goal line to allow Maryland to take a 1-0 advantage.
For the third time this season, Penn State suffered a red card, forcing it to play a man down for the remaining 18 minutes against the Terrapins. Despite having only 10 men on the field, Penn State continued to push forward on the field.
In the 84th minute, the Nittany Lions earned a corner kick that would lead to a Sload header. The header sailed high into the right corner of the net but a Terrapin defender was able to quickly get his body in front of the ball, keeping Penn State off the board.
UMD's Williamson added his third point of the night when he beat Finney in a one-on-one situation in the 88th minute to allow the Terrapins to earn a 2-0 victory.
Penn State remains at Jeffrey Field for a non-conference match against Detroit Mercy Wednesday, September 20. The Nittany Lions and the Titans will take the pitch at 7 p.m.