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Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

No. 12 Penn State Heads to North Carolina for NCAA Tournament

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 12th-ranked Penn State men's soccer team heads to North Carolina for the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions will face UMass in the second round of action on Sunday, May 2 at 1 p.m. on the campus of UNC-Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.

GAME INFORMATION

  • Date: Sunday, May 2, 2021 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
  • Postseason: NCAA Tournament | Round: 2nd Round
  • Location: Greensboro, N.C. | Venue: UNCG Soccer Stadium
  • Live Stats: ncaa.com | Watch: ESPN3

PENN STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

  • Penn State is making its 34th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second-straight appearance for the first time since the 2013-14 seasons.
  • The Nittany Lions are 28-32-1 all-time in the national tournament. They are seeking their first NCAA win since beating Hartwick in the first round back in 2014.
  • Penn State is one of three Big Ten teams in the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament. Indiana earned the conference's automatic bid and is the No. 3 overall seed. Maryland also earned an at-large bid.

PENN STATE AGAINST UMASS

  • Penn State and UMass face off Sunday for just the second time in program history.
  • The two teams last played nearly 31 years ago on Sept. 9, 1990 when the Nittany Lions were under the helm of Barry Gorman. Penn State won the game at UMass in overtime, 1-0, when both teams were apart of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

SCOUTING UMASS

  • The University of Massachusetts Minutemen are led by sixth-year head coach Fran O'Leary. They come in to the NCAA Tournament with a 7-1-3 overall record while finishing with a 3-1-2 record in Atlantic 10 league play. UMass is receiving votes in the last United Soccer Coaches poll of the regular season.
  • Like the Nittany Lions, the Minutemen also received an at-large berth into the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament.
  • Freshman Alec Hughes is pacing the Minutemen with 16 points on a team-high seven goals and two assists. Hughes was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year while also earning first-team accolades. Graduate student Filippo Begliardi Ghidini adds six goals of his own while both junior Ben Shepherd (A-10 second team) and senior Yosuke Hanya (A-10 first team) have seven assists.
  • In net, senior goalkeeper Marvyn Dorchin has played all 11 games for the Minutemen. He holds a 1.09 goals-against average and a .790 save percentage with 49 saves. He recorded three shutouts during the regular season.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Penn State did extend its unbeaten streak to eight games with a 1-1 draw at No. 3 Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, however it lost the trophy by a penalty kick shootout, 3-2.
  • After a back-and-forth contest through the first 39 minutes of the match, the No. 1-seeded Hoosiers got on the board first in the 40th minute with a goal from Victor Bezerra.
  • The Nittany Lions started to find their groove offensively in the second half, outshooting Indiana, 7-5.
  • In the 81st minute, junior Danny Bloyou had a breakaway chance before he was pulled down by his jersey right outside the 18 by Indiana's Joey Maher who was subsequently assessed a red card and gave Penn State the 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 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 goalkeeper Roman Celentano for the equalizer.
  • The Nittany Lions controlled most of the overtime periods but could not find the golden goal to take home the trophy.
  • Sophomore goalkeeper Kris Shakes made a huge PK save on Indiana's winning attempt to give Penn State life, but Celentano would make the next save to give the Hoosiers the Big Ten Tournament title.

COACHING CONNECTIONS

  • Penn State head coach Jeff Cook and UMass head coach Fran O'Leary go way back.
  • Cook was O'Leary's assistant at Dartmouth from 1994-95, and then took over for O'Leary at the helm of the Big Green in 2001.
  • Both coaches also had stints in Major League Soccer with Cook at the Philadelphia Union and O'Leary at Toronto FC.
  • Cook still considers O'Leary to be one of his greatest friends.

BUTTS IS BACK

  • Sophomore Liam Butts has goals in back-to-back games now, most recently scoring the equalizer at No. 3 Indiana in the conference tournament championship game on April 17.
  • His first goal of the season came against Michigan in the semifinals on April 14 after he missed a handful of games near the end of the regular season due to injury.
  • The 2019 first team All-Big Ten forward is another weapon to Penn State's powerful offense and to have him back is key.

NEXT TIME OUT
The winner of the Penn State/UMass second-round match will face the winner of the High Point/No. 8-seed Georgetown match in the third round on Thursday, May 6. The game will be played at WakeMed Field in Cary, N.C., time still TBD.