Michigan State University
Penn State
Penn State Blanks Men's Soccer, 1-0
10/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 4, 2009
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Coach Damon
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Penn State scored an early goal and hung on to down the Michigan State men's soccer team, 1-0, on Sunday (Oct. 4) at DeMartin Stadium. The loss drops MSU to 5-3-1 and 0-2 in the Big Ten while PSU improves to 7-3-1 and 2-0 in the conference. For the Spartans, it is the first time they have lost their first two conference games since 1988.
With the Spartans keeping the action in the offensive end of the field to start the second half, Penn State's Mark Fetrow picked up his second yellow card of the match in the 53rd minute. The second yellow on Fetrow forced the Nittany Lions to play a man down for the remainder of the game.
Playing with the advantage, the Spartans controlled the ball and kept play in the Penn State half of the field for nearly the remainder of the match. MSU was able to generate six shots in the second stanza but with Penn State playing with all 10 players packed in deep in the defensive zone, the Spartans were unable to create many quality scoring opportunities.
"Sometimes you create more chances when it is 11 vs. 11, but credit Penn State, they worked well down a man," said MSU head coach Damon Rensing. "They did what they had to do."
Headers by Jake Fullerton and Nosa Iyoha inside the penalty area proved to be the Spartans' best scoring chances of the second half, but PSU keeper Warren Gross was in position on each attempt to make the save.
"It's a give-and-take on how urgent and how patient you want to be when you are playing a man up with that much time left," said Rensing.
Penn State got what proved to be the game winner on its first shot of the game when Matheus Braga scored on a free kick from just over 25 yards out in the 11th minute.
The Spartans' best chance of the first half came in the 24th minute when Rubin Bega led Domenic Barone with a pass down the left side. Barone weaved his way in close but PSU Gross made a diving stop to keep MSU off the board.
Michigan State returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 7) when it hosts Western Michigan at 4 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium.
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