UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- From two back-to-back losses to three back-to-back-to-back shutouts, the Penn State men's soccer team feels confident heading into its final stretch of the season.
With just four games left in the regular season, head coach Jeff Cook said the three-game shutout shows the defense's determination.
"There is a lot of pride in us defending," coach Cook said. "All those little parts are what you build a successful program on. I am really thrilled that the guys are buying into that mentality and that, kind-of, blue-collar Penn State way."
The Nittany Lions saw their first shutout on the road against the Northwestern Wildcats on Oct. 6th. The game ended with a draw at 0-0, making Penn State 1-2-2 in conference play. Penn State then followed that up with a win at Jeffrey Field on Oct. 9, where they dominated Stony Brook 3-0 to get the team's second straight shutout.
The team then returned to Big Ten play on Sunday, Oct. 14 to play Wisconsin at home and go for the third blank sheet, and that's exactly what they did. The game remained 0-0 up until the 80th minute when freshman Jeremy Rafanello scored to put the Nittany Lions on top. The game finished at 1-0, making Penn State 2-2-2 in conference play and marking another shutout for the defense.
"Coming off the tie at Northwestern, we knew we could do better," Rafanello said Sunday after the Wisconsin win. "Coming back those two games, first Stony Brook, we knew we had to get at least a shutout or a win to boost our confidence even more and adding this win just proves even more."
Penn State has been recognized for its achievements, with two Big Ten defensive players of the week back-to-back weeks after their wins against Northwestern and Wisconsin. Those two players were goalie Josh Levine and defender Dani Marks. The Nittany Lions defense is also lead by junior Brandon Hackenberg who said these games are important to help them improve.
"After each of these games, we also go back over film and think about ways we can improve," Hackenberg said. "We want to find a way to keep this streak going. I think that, defensively as a team, we've done a lot better correcting the things we have to work on and it showed up."
As the Nittany Lions head into their final stretch of play, Cook is still preaching the same thing to the team: stay focused and believe in each other and yourself.
"It's kind-of an 'I told you so'," he said. "We knew we could do something. We just need to stick to our plan and I think this idea of team spirit, looking at Stony Brook, we played a lot of different guys. It is a team effort."
The Nittany Lions will look to keep that streak going Wednesday night at Jeffrey Field against Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. This will be the second time the teams have met in program history. The first time they met was last season in which Penn State won 2-0.