No. 14 Penn State Set for Big Ten Tournament Championship Against No. 3 IndianaNo. 14 Penn State Set for Big Ten Tournament Championship Against No. 3 Indiana
Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic

No. 14 Penn State Set for Big Ten Tournament Championship Against No. 3 Indiana

Opens in a new window Game Notes

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 14th-ranked Penn State men's soccer team is seeking a Big Ten Tournament title as it's set to play in the 2020-21 championship game on Saturday, April 17 against No. 3 Indiana. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. in Bloomington, Ind. and will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network with Dean Linke (pxp) and Chris Munroe (analyst) on the call.

GAME INFORMATION

  • Date: Saturday, April 17, 2021 | Time: 5 p.m.
  • Location: Bloomington, Ind. | Venue: Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium
  • Live Stats: statbroadcast.com | Watch: Big Ten Network

PENN STATE IN THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

  • Penn State is 32-22-5 (.585) all-time in the Big Ten Tournament since it started in 1991.
  • The Nittany Lions are the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament for the second-straight season. They beat No. 7-seed Ohio State in the quarterfinals and No. 3-seed Michigan in the semifinals to advance to their first conference championship game since 2011.
  • Penn State is 8-6-0 all-time as a two-seed but is 3-8-3 against a one-seed.
  • The Nittany Lions are 3-8-1 all-time in the championship game. Their last title came in 2005 under the program's winningest head coach, Barry Gorman.
  • The Blue and White are 3-9-4 against the Hoosiers in tournament play. The teams last faced off in the Big Ten Tournament in 2017 in the quarterfinals. No. 7-seed Penn State fell to No. 2-seed Indiana, 1-0, in double overtime.
  • However, the last time the two teams met in the tournament championship was the last time the Nittany Lions took home the title in 2005.

PENN STATE AGAINST INDIANA

  • Penn State and Indiana face off Saturday for the 53rd time in program history and the 17th time in the Big Ten Tournament.
  • The Nittany Lions trail in both the all-time series, 14-34-4, and the conference tournament series, 3-9-4.
  • The Nittany Lions and the Hoosiers did not meet during the regular season as the match was postponed due to positive COVID-19 results among Penn State's Tier 1 personnel. With the shortened season, the game was not rescheduled.

SCOUTING INDIANA

  • The Indiana Hoosiers are led by 11th-year head coach Todd Yeagley. They finished the regular season with a 7-1-0 record to claim the 2020-21 Big Ten regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers beat No. 8-seed Northwestern, 3-0, in the quarterfinals and No. 4-seed Maryland, 2-0, in the semifinals.
  • Indiana is ranked in the top five in both major polls: No. 3 by United Soccer Coaches and No. 4 by Top Drawer Soccer.
  • Sophomore Victor Bezerra is pacing the Hoosiers with 23 points on a team-high 10 goals and three assists. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Twelve other Hoosiers have recorded at least one point in 2020-21.
  • In net, sophomore goalkeeper Roman Celentano holds a 0.20 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage with 32 saves. He has seven shutouts and one combined shutout and was named the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year. The Hoosiers have only allowed two goals the entire 2020-21 season for an impressive plus-22 goal differential.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Penn State extended its unbeaten streak to seven games with a dominate 4-1 win over No. 3-seed Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Wednesday.
  • All four goals were scored by different players, listed in order: Danny Bloyou, Peter Mangione, Pierre Reedy and Liam Butts. Alex Stevenson and Seth Kuhn added assists as did Reedy and Mangione.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER

  • Penn State is in the top two in the league in nearly every offensive category, while also ranking top-20 nationally in certain categories.
  • The Nittany Lions are pacing the league in shot accuracy (.477), shots per game (13.00), and shots on goal per game (6.20).
  • Penn State has scored four goals in two games this season, most recently against Michigan in the semifinals. The four goals in the semifinal were the most for the Nittany Lions in a Big Ten Tournament game since 1992.
  • The Blue and White have taken at least 10 shots in eight of ten games this season.
  • Eleven players have recorded points this season, led by junior Danny Bloyou, redshirt senior Pierre Reedy and freshman Peter Mangione with double-digit points each.

NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State will await its fate for a bid in the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament. The selection show is Monday, April 19 at noon ET live on NCAA.com.