Late Huerta Goal Helps No. 19 MSU Take Down Penn State, 1-0

Friday, September 18

University Park, Pa.

7 PM

Michigan State University

6-1-1, 2-0-0

Penn State

2-4-0, 0-2-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Michigan St.	0	1	1
Penn St.	0	0	0

Late Huerta Goal Helps No. 19 MSU Take Down Penn State, 1-0

9/18/2026 10:26:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score MSU 1, PSU 0 MSU Statistics

The Spartans earn their first win over the Nittany Lions since 2021.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Junior forward Oscar Huerta's 85th-minute diving header was enough to give the No. 19 MSU men's soccer team a 1-0 victory over Penn State on Friday night at Jeffrey Field.

With the win, the Spartans improve to 6-1-1 and 2-0-0 in Big Ten play. Michigan State has now surpassed its win total of all of last season after going 5-8-3 in 2025. Penn State falls to 2-4-0 this season and 0-2 in B1G action. This is the first time since 2018 that Michigan State has started conference play 2-0.

Junior Jake Grekowicz and the Spartan defense earned their second-straight Big Ten shutout and fourth overall this season.

"This was a huge win for our guys tonight. It wasn't our best performance; we had a lot of adversity on the road," MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. "Penn State didn't have a mid-week game and this was our third game in eight days. I thought we started out really bright and got a lot of numbers behind the ball. To their credit, they came out and caused some problems at the end of the first half and the start of the second. I give our guys a lot of credit. Grek (Jake Grekowicz) made a great save to keep it 0-0."

Senior midfielder Miles Merritt earned the first shot of the day that went just off target in the fifth minute.

In the 36th minute, sophomore defender Conner O'Keefe kept the Nittany Lions off the scoreboard. He was able to block a shot in the box by Sheridan McNish. At the end of the first half, PSU was gaining momentum after the Spartans were in control early on.

After the first 45 minutes, the game remained scoreless. Penn State held the slight edge in shots, 5-4. The Nittany Lions had a 5-2 lead in corner kicks in the first half.

Grekowicz made huge saves in the 52nd and 80th minutes to keep the game scoreless.

The Spartans had a flurry of shots in the 76th and 77th minutes. Both Huerta and Merritt had shots blocked. Senior forward Andrew Darakdjian's blast went off target, as the MSU offense started to heat up.

In the 85th minute, Huerta's diving header would be all the offense that the Spartans needed. The play started with a corner kick from Merritt. The goal was the first of the season for Huerta, while Merritt has two assists.

"I am just really proud of the guys. What a great performance to go on the road and get a big time win at Happy Valley," Rensing said.

MSU ended the game out-shooting PSU 11-10.

The Spartans return home to face No. 7 Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. on Alumni Day.

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