UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – On a rain-soaked evening in Happy Valley, the Penn State men's soccer team didn't let the weather conditions faze them as it put a three-spot on the Syracuse Orange Sunday evening at Jeffrey Field. Junior goalkeeper Kris Shakes and the defense blanked the Orange offense for their first shutout of the season.
"I'm thrilled with tonight's victory against an outstanding Syracuse team," said head coach Jeff Cook. "I thought the work rate and commitment of our players was outstanding throughout the 90 minutes. I think it's really important to recognize the great work of our facility staff, our administration, and our team behind the team at Rec Hall are superb – we were able to play this game in really tough conditions because of a lot of excellent work behind the scenes. I think that's what it's all about, and they provided our student-athletes with a chance to compete tonight and thought they did extremely well."
The 11th-ranked Nittany Lions (1-0-1, 0-0-0 Big Ten) wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with the first shot of the match finding the back of the net. Junior Alex Stevenson kept the ball in play near the end line and passed it outside the 18 to senior vice captain Seth Kuhn. Kuhn then played the ball into sophomore Peter Mangione who was able to split the defense and head the ball in for his first goal of the season in the fourth minute.
Syracuse (1-1-0, 0-0-0 ACC) countered back in the sixth minute with its first shot on frame, but Shakes made a blocking save to keep the visitors off the board.
In the 44th minute, redshirt senior Brandon Hackenberg nearly had his first goal of the season on a header but it hit the far post and was gobbled up by Syracuse.
The two teams continued to trade shots throughout the first half, with the Orange outshooting the Nittany Lions, 7-5, including four on net. Penn State would carry the one-goal game into the break as the rain continued.
Out of halftime, Penn State looked ready to add to its lead. Redshirt senior Pierre Reedy drew a foul in the box in the 49th minute to set up a penalty kick which he buried for a 2-0 advantage.
Just over a minute later, Penn State carried that momentum on offense and Kuhn had a shot at the far post that was initially saved by the Syracuse goalkeeper before junior Andrew Privett cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the season.
The desperation for the Orange started to settle in as they would look to get on the scoreboard to avoid the shutout. In the 54th minute, the visitors had three chances in a row, including two on frame in which one was saved by Shakes and the other blocked at the line by Hackenberg.
The physical game, one that had 29 combined fouls and two yellow cards for each team, continued for the remainder of the 30-plus minutes, but Penn State was able to play well on all sides of the ball to keep control of the match for the eventual 3-0 victory.
Shakes finished with six saves in his first start in between the pipes of the season.
UP NEXT
Penn State hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Friday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
- Sophomore Peter Mangione's opening goal proved to be the eventual game-winner. It marks his fifth-career game-winning goal.
- Junior goalkeeper Kris Shakes recorded his first clean sheet of the season and the eighth in his career.
- Senior Seth Kuhn had two assists for his first multi-assist game of the season.
- Penn State moves to 31-3-5 all-time against Syracuse.