BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After scoring the equalizer in the 82nd minute to force overtime in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, the 14th-ranked Penn State men's soccer team (8-1-2, 6-1-1 Big Ten) fell to No. 3 Indiana (9-1-1, 7-1-0 Big Ten) in a penalty kick shootout, 3-2, Saturday evening at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
"I was so impressed with our team's performance today in an outstanding Big Ten Championship match," said head coach Jeff Cook. "The team showed great character, quality and fought back to take control of the game in the second half, and I thought fully deserved a better result today. We are very disappointed that we are not taking the tournament championship trophy back to State College, however, today's game was another demonstration of our quality and determination. It's appropriate to congratulate Indiana on an outstanding season. We look forward to representing Penn State in the NCAA Tournament."
The majority of the first half was a very back-and-forth contest as both teams only fired one shot on target in the opening 39 minutes.
Indiana's Victor Bezerra took the first shot at net in the eighth minute but Nittany Lion goalkeeper Kris Shakes was there for the save.
Freshman Peter Mangione forced a Hoosier turnover in Penn State's offensive zone in the 26th minute and got a shot on frame that Indiana's goalkeeper, Noah Celentano, had to push out at the near post.
The Hoosiers would then take the 1-0 lead into the break after Bezerra, the team's leading goal scorer, scored in the 40th minute.
After a slower start offensively to the second half, the Nittany Lions started to find their groove in the final 20 or so minutes of play. Junior Danny Bloyou had a good look at the near post in the 72nd minute to earn the team a corner kick. Redshirt junior Nicholas Rieple then had a header shot off the corner that hit the crossbar.
In the 81st minute, Bloyou had a breakaway chance but was pulled down by his jersey right outside the 18 by Indiana's Joey Maher who was then assessed a red card and gave the Nittany Lions a chance to play man-up for the remainder of the match.
Penn State immediately capitalized on this advantage, earning a corner kick in the 82nd minute that was taken by sophomore Andrew Privett. After the initial pass was kicked back out to Privett, he passed it to junior Seth Kuhn right at the top of the 18 who sent it in to sophomore Liam Butts in the six who was able to get his right foot on it and past Celentano for the equalizer.
Redshirt junior Pierre Reedy took another shot on goal in the 85th minute in hopes of finding the go-ahead goal but Celentano made another save for the denial.
Penn State controlled most of the overtime periods but could not find the golden goal to take home the trophy and the championship game would go to penalty kicks to decide the winner.
Shakes made a huge PK save on Indiana's winning attempt to give the Nittany Lions life, but the Hoosiers would make the next save to win the Big Ten Tournament title.
UP NEXT
The season is not over for the Blue and White as they will await their bid in the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament. The selection show is Monday, April 19 at noon ET, live on NCAA.com.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State scored the first "run-of-game" goal on Indiana's defense this season and broke the Hoosiers' five-game shutout streak.
- Junior forward Danny Bloyou and redshirt senior Pierre Reedy were named to the 2020-21 Big Ten All-Tournament Team. Bloyou had three goals and one assist in tournament play while Reedy had one goal and three assists.
- Saturday's PK shootout was the sixth time in program history that Penn State played for a win in PK's in a Big Ten Tournament game. Five of those six shootouts have been against the Hoosiers.