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Oct. 25, 2017
HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The Penn State men's soccer team earned its second-straight road win with a 2-1 victory over CAA leader James Madison at Santara Park Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Freshman Ethan Beckford (Manchester, England) scored for the second-straight match for the Blue and White with his second-straight penalty kick, which proved to be the game-winner, when JMU was charged with a handball in the 60th minute. Redshirt-senior Sam Bollinger (State College, Pa.) netted his first goal of the season for the Nittany Lions in the first half of action, marking his fourth point of the year, while senior Aymar Sigue and sophomore Kyle Perno (Hyde Park, N.Y.) each had an assist on the Bollinger goal.
Redshirt-freshman Josh Levine (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) made four saves on the night and gave up one goal, while the Penn State offense had eight shot on the night.
The Dukes thought they were going to take an early 1-0 lead over the Nittany Lions when the ball found the back of the net off a corner kick but the call was reversed as a JMU player interfered with Levine in the box.
Penn State earned a free kick in the 16th minute of the match that Perno served onto the head of Sigue. Sigue knocked the ball toward the net where Bollinger headed it into the upper right corner of the net to allow the Nittany Lions to take a 1-0 lead over the Dukes.
The Blue and White would take the 1-0 lead into the locker room with both teams taking three shots in the opening 45 minutes.
Beckford tacked on a second goal for the Nittany Lions 15 minutes into the second half when he capitalized on a penalty kick off a handball for the second-straight match.
The Dukes threatened with multiple shots in the 70th minute of play before Aaron Ward-Baptiste found the back of the net off a rebound to break up the Nittany Lion shutout.
Penn State was able to hold off the Duke offense for the remaining minutes of the match as it packed the box on defense and secured it second-straight road win of the year.
Penn State concludes its 2017 regular season Sunday, Oct. 29 when it celebrates the careers of its four seniors at Jeffrey Field following its match against Northwestern. The match is set to start at noon between the Nittany Lions and the Wildcats.