GREENSBORO, N.C. – The 12th-ranked Penn State men's soccer team (9-1-2, 6-1-1 Big Ten) downed UMass (7-2-3, 3-1-2 Atlantic 10), 4-1, in the second round of the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament to advanced to the next round of play.
The Nittany Lions started off hot in the first half, scoring three goals to carry a good lead into the break.
In the 10th minute, redshirt senior captain Pierre Reedy had a cross going in to the box that took a lucky deflected off a UMass defender into the back of the net to put Penn State up 1-0.
Penn State continued to press offensively, with another shot from Reedy and one from fellow captain Brandon Hackenberg in the next 10 minutes.
Sophomore Alex Stevenson then made it 2-0 in the 21st minute with an assist from Peter Mangione as Stevenson celebrated with a back flip.
Another 11 minutes later, junior Seth Kuhn had a wonder strike from the top of the six with his left foot for his second goal of the season as Mangione was unselfish and passed it off to the midfield leader.
UMass came out of the break really aggressive offensively, knowing it needed to get on the board to try to extend its season. The Minutemen did score in the 53rd minute after a similar situation to the Nittany Lions in the first half where a cross took an unfortunate deflection and in to make it 3-1 with a decent amount of time remaining.
The Minutemen took the next seven shots of the half before the Nittany Lions registered one, but sophomore goalkeeper Kris Shakes and the defense stood strong to keep the back of the net clear.
In the 82nd minute, sophomore Liam Butts had a great look that hit off the right post and back into the box that freshman Tyger Evans was able to clean up the rebound to put the game away. Mangione was there again for an assist, his third of the game.
UP NEXT
No. 12 Penn State advances to play seventh-ranked and No. 8-seed Georgetown in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The match will be played at WakeMed Field in Cary, N.C. on Thursday, May 6, time still TBD.
GAME NOTES
- Sophomore Alex Stevenson scored his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
- Freshman Peter Mangione recorded his first multi-assist game of his career with three total assists, two in the first half and one in the second.
- Mangione's three assists is the first three-assist game for an individual player since Connor Maloney had three against Ohio State in 2016.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Kris Shakes registered a season-high seven saves, all in the second half.
- The Penn State offense scored four goals for the third time this season. This marks the first time scoring four or more goals three times in a season since 2010 when the Nittany Lions had five games with that many goals.
- Penn State earns its first win in a NCAA Tournament game since 2014 when it beat Hartwick in the first round.
- The Nittany Lions are now 2-0 all-time against the Minutemen.