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Oct. 29, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team earned a senior day victory with a 2-1 win over Northwestern at Jeffrey Field Sunday, Oct. 29. The win secures the Blue and White the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament which begins Sunday, Nov. 5 at campus sites.
It was a fitting day to honor the careers of four seniors as senior Aymar Sigue (St. Albert, Alberta) scored the game-winning goal in the second half of the match. The Blue and White honored the careers of Sam Bollinger (State College, Pa.), Dani Marks (Ra'anana, Israel), Sigue and Cameron Steele (Clayton, N.C.) following its match with the Wildcats.
"I was really happy and proud of the whole team for doing such great work for the seniors today so they can go out in style and keep this little run we got going," said head coach Bob Warming.
Sigue scored his first game-winner of the season to earn Penn State its third-straight victory of the season, while sophomore Aaron Molloy (Dublin, Ireland) netted his third goal of the year donning the Blue and White. Offensively, Callum Pritchatt (Kinghurst, Birmingham) posted his third assist of the season, while Penn State outshot Northwestern 18-12 on the afternoon. Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Josh Levine (Rockville, Centre, N.Y.) made three saves on the day and gave up one goal for his third win of the 2017 season.
Northwestern's lone goal of the day came from Sean Lynch in the first half, while Robbie White took the loss in goal with four saves on the day.
Penn State saw its second corner kick opportunity in the 17th minute of the match and would capitalize on the opportunity when Molloy blasted the shot off the top of the net from 21 yards out to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead in the first half.
The Wildcats knotted the score with 10 minutes to play in the first half when Lynch got his head on a ball off a blocked shot and redirected it into the back of the net.
Penn State controlled the ball for the majority of the match, outshooting NU 12-4, but would go into the half tied at 1-1.
Molloy dribbled the ball into the box in the 66th minute in search of his second goal of the match. He fired a shot that was unable to be grabbed by White, causing a large rebound for Sigue to find at his feet. Sigue took the one-timer from six yards out to put Penn State up 2-1 over the Wildcats in the second half.
Northwestern looked to even the score in the 82nd minute when a shot off a corner kick went off the crossbar for the Wildcats, allowing the Blue and White to maintain its 2-1 lead.
Penn State kept the Northwestern offense at bay for the remainder of the match, locking up the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 2-1 win over the Wildcats.
Penn State will head to the Big Ten Tournament starting Sunday, Nov. 5. The Nittany Lions will be the No. 7 seed and take on No. 2 Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana.