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Pair of Olimpicos Push Penn State Past Army, 2-1

Henderson and Grabfelder contributed to Penn State’s scoring efforts

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Matthew Henderson and Caden Grabfelder’s second half olimpico goals helped the Nittany Lions defeat the Army Black Knights, 2-1 in Penn State men’s soccer’s home opener at Jeffrey Field Sunday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half

Penn State controlled most of the possession the first half of the match, but they were not able to capitalize on any of their shots. Army’s Ronald Zhai got the first goal of the match in the 15th minute after teammate Kai Thomas snuck a pass past the Nittany Lion backline to the forward who blasted a shot a quick shot for the goal.

Penn State goalkeeper Fredrick Grundin made his first and only save of the match in the 30th minute. The redshirt freshman made a diving save to right to keep Army’s lead to one.

Second Half

The Nittany Lions responded nearly three minutes into the second half. Junior captain Matthew Henderson took a corner kick on the left side of Jeffrey Field and perfectly placed the equalizing goal.

The match winning goal came from another Nittany Lions’ corner kick this time on the right side of field from sophomore Caden Grabfelder. The midfielder curled his corner kick past the Black Knights’ goalkeeper in the 81st minute.

COACH COOK ON THE MATCH

“It’s great to be back at Jeffrey Field,” said head coach Jeff Cook. “I want to acknowledge and show our appreciation for the fans. It means the world to us. Their support helped drive us forward in the second half. I am delighted that our guys can show a lot of character and get a really important win early in the season. This gets us in the win column for 2024. Overall, I am proud of the guys’ effort.”

MATCH NOTES

  • Redshirt-freshman Grundin made his first collegiate start against the Black Knights, registering one save in the 90 minutes.
  • The Nittany Lions outshot the Black Knights 11-10 overall and 4-2 shots on goal.
  • Grabfelder and Christian Dionne led Nittany Lions’ offensive efforts, getting three shots off a piece.
  • The Blue & White held the advantage on corner kicks, 8-3.
  • Penn State improves to 1-1-0 on the season, while Army falls to 0-1-1 overall. 
  • The Nittany Lions still trail in the all-time series against Army, 19-22-5.

UP NEXT

The Nittany Lions will continue their four match homestand on Friday, August 30 against Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. (ET). The match will be streamed live on B1G+.