Men’s Soccer Draws with Maryland to Conclude Regular SeasonMen’s Soccer Draws with Maryland to Conclude Regular Season

Men’s Soccer Draws with Maryland to Conclude Regular Season

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Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – In a rain-soaked afternoon thriller on national television, the Penn State men's soccer team (6-1-1, 6-1-1 Big Ten) found the equalizing goal twice to force a double-overtime 2-2 draw with the Maryland Terrapins (4-3-1, 4-3-1 Big Ten) Wednesday at Ludwig Field.

"I thought today was an incredibly exciting, highly competitive Big Ten soccer match," said head coach Jeff Cook. "I am immensely proud of our players for coming back twice and for consistently doing everything they could to try to win today's game. As always, this was a performance that highlighted the depth of our team but there were some outstanding performances from Kris Shakes, Pierre Reedy, Seth Kuhn and Peter Mangione, amongst several others of our players."

Maryland started the scoring off early, just 95 seconds into the game, after Terrapin freshman Ben Bender headed the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Kris Shakes who made the initial save but couldn't push the ball over the crossbar for Bender to get the rebound shot.

Penn State found the initial equalizer in the 20th minute as freshman Peter Mangione worked past the Terrapin defenders to slot the shot into the far corner after it seemed to hit off Maryland goalkeeper Jamie Lowell for his fourth goal of the season.


The match would go to the break with a 1-1 tie.

At the start of the second half, Maryland earned a penalty kick after sophomore Jalen Watson was called for a foul in the box. Redshirt senior Paul Bin was set to take the PK for the Terrapins, but Shakes came up with a huge save to keep the game tied.


In the 63rd minute, Bin would draw another foul in the box, this time against redshirt junior Nicholas Rieple, and this time Malcom Johnston got Shakes to go the other way as he converted for a 2-1 Maryland advantage.

Penn State refused to give up, however, and in the 86th minute, Watson made a short pass to redshirt senior Pierre Reedy right outside the six who kept the shot low and to the far post past Lowell for the equalizer that eventually would force overtime in College Park.


In the first overtime period, Penn State had some really solid chances at finding the golden goal, including a shot in the 95th minute by Mangione that was barely saved by Lowell.

Maryland had its own chance at a game-ending goal in the second overtime with a shot from Bin, but Shakes made another big save to force a draw and to give Penn State another important point in conference play.

Shakes finished with four saves to move to 5-0-1 in net this season.

UP NEXT
Penn State will await its fate in the Big Ten Tournament as it has a bye Sunday while the other eight teams close out the regular season. No matter what happens in the other four games Sunday, the Nittany Lions have clinched at least the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament and will host a quarterfinal game at Jeffrey Field on Saturday, April 10.

GAME NOTES

  • Freshman Peter Mangione and redshirt senior Pierre Reedy both with their fourth goals of the season for Penn State to tie for the team high with junior Danny Bloyou.
  • Penn State now owns a three-game unbeaten streak against Maryland, going 2-0-1 in the last three games. The last time the Nittany Lions had a three-game unbeaten streak against the Terrapins was 1976-78 (3-0-0) under legendary head coach Walter Bahr.
  • This was the third overtime game between the Nittany Lions and Terrapins in the last four matchups.
  • Penn State can still win the Big Ten regular season title, based on points per game, with an Indiana loss on Sunday.