The men’s soccer team will travel upstate Friday to face off against Penn State, the No. 16 ranked team in the country, per the National Soccer Coaches Association of America coaches poll.
The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten Conference title last season and made it to the third round of NCAA tournament, before falling to New Mexico. They have started the season with two victories, downing Oakland in their season opener, 1-0, and St. John’s by a tally of 3-0, both of which were wins at home.
Coach David MacWilliams said Penn State is solid defensively, and play in front of senior goalie in Andrew Wolverton, who was the 2013 Big Ten goalkeeper of the year last year.
MacWilliams added that a key going into Friday night will be starting and finishing the game strong.
“We need to make sure the first 10 or 15 minutes we get the butterflies out and are ready to play,” MacWilliams said. “This year, Penn State has been a team that has scored a lot of goals in the second half … so we’ve got to be sure we’re ready to play 45 minutes the first half and 45 minutes the second half.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Jeffrey Field.
Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @SteveSportsGuy1.
