The Penn State men’s soccer team will be heading to Morgantown, W.V. for a non-conference night match against the West Virginia Mountaineers set for Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions will be looking for their second-straight road victory against West Virginia after defeating the Mountaineers 2-1, Sept. 25, 2013.
ABOUT THE MOUNTAINEERS:
West Virginia comes into the mid-week non-conference match with a 5-6-0 overall record and a 1-0-0 record in conference competition. Most recently, the Mountaineers earned a 1-0 victory over Western Michigan in a Mid-American Conference contest. Ryan Cain leads the program with five goals so far this season, alongside with Jamie Merriam who has four goals so far. WVU’s Joey Piatczyc leads the nation with his 11 assists on the season, while the Mountaineers have dished out 25 total assists on just 20 goals. West Virginia leads a well-balanced attack as four players have scored at least two goals on the season and five have dished out at least two assists.
Much like Penn State, West Virginia has scored 11 of its 20 goals in the second half and has given up 13-second half goals and just three in the opening 45 minutes of action. Alec Boemer and Daniel Diaz have split time in net this season, but Boemer leads the goalkeeping position with 21 saves in eight games and has a goal against average of 1.50, while Diaz has 14 saves and a GAA of 1.58.
SERIES HISTORY WITH THE MOUNTAINEERS:
Tuesday’s meeting with the Mountaineers will mark the 30th time the two teams have faced off on the pitch as Penn State carries a dominating 20-7-2 all-time record over West Virginia. The Nittany Lions and WVU began the 30-match series in Penn State’s inaugural season and played each other for 15-straight seasons (1965-79) before renewing the home-and-home rivalry in 2012. Penn State is 8-5-1 for an all-time record at Dick Diesk Soccer Stadium and 1-1-1 all-time against the Mountaineers since Head Coach Bob Warming took the helm of the Penn State program in 2010.
LET’S TALK NUMBERS:
This season, the Mountaineers have outscored Penn State, 20-13, but the Nittany Lions have allowed 11 goals compared the WVU’s 17. West Virginia is averaging 12.6 shots per game, while the Nittany Lions are taking just 9.1 shots per game. However, Penn State is allowing just 0.96 goals per match and the Mountaineers are allowing 1.54 goals per match.
PENN STATE’S STRONG OFFENSE IN FIRST HALF AGAISNT UMD:
The Nittany Lions have been a second half team in the 2015 season, but Friday night Penn State notched two first half goals against Maryland. Penn State’s two first half goals against the Terrapins marked just the fifth and sixth goals of the season that the team has scored in the opening half.
MARYLAND SCORES FOUR UNANSWERED AGAINST PENN STATE:After taking a 2-0 lead against the Terrapins, the Nittany Lions allowed Maryland to score four unanswered goals. UMD closed out the first half knotting the score at 2-2 with a goal with three seconds left on the clock. George Campbell added two more goals in the second half of action to notch the hat trick and secure the 4-3 victory over Penn State.
KLINGENBERG’S OFFENSE COMES ALIVE AGAINST THE TERRAPINS:
Senior Drew Klingenberg was one of the biggest threats of the match to Maryland keeper Cody Niedermeier. Klingenberg has a solid career-high six shots, four of which landed on goal against the Terrapins. Klingenberg gave Penn State the early lead in Friday’s contest when he got a pass from Riley Grant to the center of the box and blasted a shot past Niedermeier in the 17th-minute of the match.
MALONEY LEADS THE NITTANY LIONS AGAINST UDM:
For the second time in the 2015 campaign, junior Connor Maloney notched two goals in one contest for the Nittany Lions. The junior midfielder used a cross from his brother, Austin Maloney, in the 28th-minute to extend the Nittany Lion lead to 2-0 in the first half of action against Maryland.
After the Terrapins scored four-straight goals, Maloney brought Penn State within one when he got his foot on a free kick from Brian James. The goal marked his fifth of the season, which leads the Nittany Lions and also ranks fifth in the Big Ten, while his 11 points rank seventh overall.
NITTANY LION IS CALLED UP TO GUAM NATIONAL TEAM MATCH:
The Guam National Team for team has called up Junior, Nate Lee, for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifications Oct. 5-14. Lee is one of this season’s many threats on the field.
This past spring, Lee competed with the Guam National Team alongside his two brothers, Alex and Justin. The team played a pair of friendlies against Japan and Singapore during a four-day stretch, going 0-1-1. The trio of brothers started in both matches in which their team fell to Hong Kong, 1-0, Mar. 28. He played to a draw with Singapore, on Mar. 31.
Lee came back to the United State in order to compete in his final seasons as a Nittany Lion, while his brothers have continued to play for the National team.
Lee will travel to Guam to play for the Guam National Team for the FIFA World Cup Qualifications game, which is an AFC qualification match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals to be held in Russia.
SHUTOUTS KEY TO NITTANY LION VICTORIES:
In 2015, Penn State has recorded five victories, all of which have been shut outs. When giving up a goal, the Nittany Lions have struggled to come up with the win, having posted three losses and two ties when allowing their opponent to score.
