UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's soccer team (0-1-0) fell to national powerhouse and fifth-ranked Stanford (1-0-0), 5-0, in the season opener Friday evening at Jeffrey Field.
"I see a lot of encouraging signs from that performance against an outstanding team in Stanford," said head coach Jeff Cook. "Clearly, our marking and defending against dead balls was an issue tonight so that we have to be accountable for including the coaching staff. But I thought in the pattern of play, if you look at it, 2-0 at halftime, we had a penalty kick conceded, and a free kick that starts at midfield, and other than that, I thought we were well in the game. From my part I'm proud of the effort our players put in. It's not an easy result to digest, you know in the first game of the season, but I remain very confident in this group going forward the rest of the year."
The three-time national champion Cardinal got on the board first in the 11th minute before converting a penalty kick in the 13th minute to take an early 2-0 lead.
The Penn State defense was able to hold back the quick Stanford offense for the remainder of the half, only allowing five shots with three saved by redshirt junior goalkeeper Josh Levine.
Senior Christian Sload had three good looks at the net in the first half, but was unable to sneak it past the keeper.
At the start of the second half, grad transfer Will Campbell had a great shot on net that went just over the crossbar.
Stanford scored back-to-back goals in the 63rd and 68th minutes off a corner kick and free kick, respectively before adding another in the 84th minute.
Levine totaled six saves in the match while Sload took a team-high four shots. 10 Penn State newcomers saw playing time.
Penn State returns to action Monday night at Stony Brook at 7 p.m. for the first road test of the season.
