UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's soccer team, under new head coach Jeff Cook, will start its 2018 campaign inside the friendly confines of Jeffrey Field at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 24, playing host to the UCF Knights.
FOLLOW ALONG
The game will be streamed live on BTN+. Fans can also follow along with all the action by following the team on Twitter @PennStateMSOC.
REMEMBERING WALTER BAHR
Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and the Penn State men's soccer team will honor the passing of former men's soccer head coach Walter Bahr in a halftime ceremony. The legendary coach from 1974-87 who guided the Nittany Lions to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances passed away in June at the age of 91.
KICKING OFF 2018 AT HOME
Penn State men's soccer has opened seven of the last eight seasons inside the friendly confines of Jeffrey Field, going 5-1-1 on opening day since 2011. The Nittany Lions open at Jeffrey Field in 2018 for the second consecutive season. In 2016, the Blue and White opened the season in California when they took on then-defending national champions Stanford.
PENN STATE IN SEASON-OPENERS
The Nittany Lions have won eight of the last 11 season openers, dating back to the 2008 campaign. The last time Penn State faced UCF was in the 2008 season in the Wolstein Classic, where the Nittany Lions defeated the Knights 2-0 to start its eight-year season-opening win streak. Last season, the Nittany Lions dropped a close season opener at home to Hofstra, 0-1.
SCOUTING UCF
The Knights had an impressive 2017 season, winning six-straight games near the end of the season before falling to SMU in overtime in The American Championship. The Knights (8-6-2) finished as runner-ups in the regular season and the tournament. It was the first championship match for the program since 2004. As a unit, UCF recorded 74 points (25 goals, 24 assists) in 2017. Both goalkeepers who saw time in the net in 2017 return to the 2018 roster, posting a combined six shutouts and 52 saves from last season. The Knights graduated their two leading points scorers from 2017, but return 20 letterwinners.
FAMILIAR NAMES, FAMILIAR FACES
The Nittany Lions return 22 student-athletes from the 2017 roster, including nine starters. Sophomore forward Ethan Beckford returns as the leading goal scorer for the Blue and White with five goals and one assist (11 points) in his rookie campaign. Aaron Molloy (three goals), Mac Curran (two goals) and Callum Pritchatt and Christian Sload (one goal each) also return to the lineup.
On the backline, redshirt senior Dani Marks, senior Brennan Ireland and junior Mitchel Bringolf look to keep the opposition out of the box after helping the goalkeepers to two shutouts in 2017.
In the net, redshirt sophomore Josh Levine returns after having nine starts in the 2017 season. Levine earned Big Ten All-Tournament Team honors after recording a career-best 12 saves in the quarterfinal match up with No. 1 Indiana on Nov. 6, 2017. Junior Arie Ammann hopes to be back in the net for the Blue and White after missing 2017 with an injury. As a freshman, Ammann earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the week honors.
NEW FACES
Despite returning nearly the entire 2017 squad, head coach Jeff Cook added four new faces for the 2018 season, including two freshmen and two transfers.
In his first signing class as the leader of the Penn State men's soccer team, Cook signed forward Jeremy Rafanello and brought in commit Joshua Dabora. Prior to preseason, Cook announced the addition of transfers Mason Deeds (Georgetown) and Keegan Ness (Oregon State) to complete the 26-man roster.
AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
The 2018 roster features seven student-athletes who crossed oceans to be a part of the Penn State family. Mitchel Bringolf comes to Happy Valley from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, captain Dani Marks is from Israel, and Daniel Gonzalez came to Penn State from Costa Rica. The four other student-athletes join the Nittany Lions from the United Kingdom, including Ethan Beckford (Manchester, England), Mikey Conneh (Sheffield, Yorkshire, England), Aaron Molloy (Dublin, Ireland), and Callum Pritchatt (Kinghurst, Birmingham, England).
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Penn State men's soccer team will face four opponents in 2018 ranked within the top 25 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll, including No. 2 Indiana, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 12 Wisconsin, and No. 21 Michigan. The Nittany Lions will face both Michigan State and Wisconsin within the friendly confines of Jeffrey Field, but will have to travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. and Bloomington, Ind., in back-to-back conference road trips. The 2018 squad will also face two opponents receiving votes in the preseason poll, including UCF in the season opener and Maryland on Oct. 23.
THREE NITTANY LIONS LAND PRESEASON HONORS
Senior Brennan Ireland, junior Aaron Molloy and sophomore Ethan Beckford each earned Big Ten preseason honors as announced by the conference office.
Earning preseason honors for the second consecutive season, Molloy played and started in 16 games in his first season with the Blue and White after transferring to Penn State from Keiser University in 2017. The Dublin, Ireland, native logged 1,396 minutes on the pitch and scored three goals, the second most on the team.
Ireland appeared in 16 matches with 10 starts on the backline for the Nittany Lions in 2017. The Annapolis, Md., native helped Penn State to two shutouts as a defensive back and registered 929 minutes of action on the pitch.
Beckford returns to Penn State frontline as a unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree. In his rookie campaign with the Nittany Lions, Beckford paced the team with 11 points (5 goals, 1 assist). The Manchester, England, native also posted the first multi-goal game of his career on Oct. 22 at Rutgers, becoming the first men's soccer student-athlete to have a two-goal game since Connor Maloney on Oct. 18, 2016.
MARKS, MOLLOY NAMED 2018 TEAM CAPTAINS
Redshirt senior Dani Marks and junior Aaron Molloy have been selected as team captains of the 2018 Penn State men's soccer team as announced by first-year head coach Jeff Cook.
The 2018 captaincy will be the third time Marks will lead the team in such capacity as he was also the team captain for the 2015 and 2017 seasons. It will be the first such honor for Molloy after joining the Nittany Lions in 2017.
Marks returns to University Park in 2018 for his final season with the Blue and White. The Ra'anana, Israel, native defender started 16 games for the Nittany Lions last season, logging 1,427 minutes on the pitch and anchoring the backline to two shutouts on the season. Marks also had one assist in 2017 and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the third consecutive season.
Molloy played and started in 16 games in his first season with the Blue and White. The Dublin, Ireland, native logged 1,396 minutes on the pitch and scored three goals in 2017, the second most on the team.
SIXTH ANNUAL MACK BRADY MATCH
The Nittany Lions will host the sixth annual Mack Brady Match when Big Ten foe Ohio State comes to Happy Valley on Sunday, Sept. 16.
At the age of eight, Brady passed away on Dec. 31, 2012 following an unexpected blood infection. To honor his life and love for soccer (especially goalkeeping), Mack's parents, Christian and Elizabeth Brady, created the "Mack Brady Memorial Soccer Fund." The fund is an endowment for Penn State goalkeepers to assist with recruiting, equipment and other needs.
The Blue and White have always found a way in the Mack Brady Match, coming in to the 2018 match with a 4-1-1 record.
PENN STATE FEATURED ON BIG TEN NETWORK
The Penn State men's soccer team will be featured on the Big Ten Network when it travels to Maryland on Tuesday, Oct. 23 for its 6 p.m. contest. Last season, the Nittany Lions fell to the then-No. 3 Terrapins, 0-2.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State stays at home to start the next week, hosting a weekday contest with Bowling Green on Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. at Jeffrey Field. This marks the first time since the 2015 season that the Nittany Lions will start the first two games of the season in University Park.
