UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A pair of goals by graduate student Aboubacar Camara headlined a 2-1 win for the Penn State men’s soccer team over Rutgers on Monday night on the Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions extend their undefeated streak to five.
Penn State improves to 5-5-2 overall with a mark of 2-2-2 against Big Ten Conference competitors this season. Rutgers falls to 4-6-2 overall and 1-3-1 in conference. The Nittany Lions moves to fifth in the conference standings with eight points. With the win, Penn State maintain a 19-10-0 record against the Scarlet Knights.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
While the Nittany Lions held possession for the majority of the first half, they could not convert their shots. Penn State had the 6-5 edge on shots in the first 45 minutes.
The best look the pink and black had on goal with in the 27th minute when sophomore Caden Grabfelder launched a shot from the 15.
SECOND HALF
Camara opened the second half with the first goal of the match. The Nittany Lions were on a downfield offensive push. Hewes sent a cross over to Camara who flicked it behind the Scarlet Knights’ goalkeeper in the 49th minute.
Rutgers leveled scoring 64th minute after Nick Collins sent the ball into the goal with a bouncing shot.
The two teams found themselves deadlocked at 1-1 for 25 minutes. In the final 30 seconds, junior Christian Dionne drew a foul in the box which awarded the pink and black a penalty kick. Camara sent a low shot directly to the bottom left corner of the goal off his right foot for the match winner.
COACH COOK ON THE MATCH
“The possession of the ball was our best performance of the year in my opinion. I thought we were outstanding with passing other than maybe a 10-minute-ish period of play when right before they scored, I thought we kind of fell off the game a little bit.”
“I thought the vast majority of the game the guys maintained a level of composure and had a level of quality on the ball which was excellent. I'm really proud of the guys and their mentality is first class to give up a goal and then like almost instantly get right back to work was really good.”
MATCH NOTES
- Camara is the first Nittany Lion to score multiple goals in a match since Liam Butts in 2023 against Ohio State. Butts lifted the squad to a 3-0 win with his hat trick.
- This is the second time Camara has had a brace in his career. The forward scored two goals against Eastern Illinois in 2021 with Louisville.
- Camara is tied with sophomore Caden Grabfelder for the most goals on the team with four.
- Hewes notched his first assist of the season on Camara’s goal in the 49th minute.
- Cooke registered three saves in the 90 minutes. The graduate student has 34 saves on the season so far.
- Penn State and Rutgers split shots (14-14), shots on target (4-4) and corner kicks (6-6).
- Camara and freshman Malick Daouda led the offensive efforts with three shots each.
- Morgan Marshall returned to the starting lineup. The sophomore defender has started seven matches for the Nittany Lions so far this season.
- The Nittany Lions are 2-0 this season in their pink and black kits.
- Penn State is 2-1-0 when they score first in a match.
- With the victory, Penn State moves to fifth in the conference standings with eight points (5-5-2, 2-2-2 B1G).
UP NEXT
Penn State men’s soccer will hit the road to face Indiana on Friday, October 11 at 7 p.m. (ET). The match will be streamed Big Ten Plus.