Men’s Soccer Says Goodbye to Five Seniors
The Penn State men’s soccer team is a lot like the football team.
They showcase one of the best defenses in the country. Andrew Wolverton, the team’s goalie, tied a Penn State record last week with his tenth shutout. They have allowed only ten goals all season, averaging one goal allowed approximately every other game. If you just look at the defense, you would think this team would be on the top of the Big Ten and preparing to make a run at a national championship.
There’s just one problem: they can’t score.
It is for that reason that Senior Night tomorrow afternoon at Jeffrey Field will be a somber one. Penn State (7-7-4, 0-5) has won just two games since mid-September. Some of this struggle can be attributed to the loss of Corey Hertzog, who left early for the MLS last year after tearing up the conference with 46 goals. The team has scored only 15 goals all season including only a single goal in the last seven games. That’s over 630 minutes of soccer with one goal, and less than a third of what a single player scored last season.
The Nittany Lions will have one final chance to pick up their first Big Ten victory this season as they host Wisconsin this Saturday at 2 p.m. Penn State will say goodbye to seniors Mackenzie Arment, Marco Ciarla, Mark Fetrow, Justin Lee, and Matt Smallwood in a postgame ceremony. Many of these seniors were big contributors to the great season Penn State had last year, and deserve our respect for that. Plus, we lose two of the best heads of hair in the Big Ten in Arment and Smallwood, both of which will be sorely missed next season.
If you haven’t been to a soccer game yet this season, come out tomorrow afternoon to the Jeff. It’s an off week for football, and regardless of what their record shows, the team has worked hard after facing a lot of adversity with several players quitting and Hertzog leaving early. Anything can happen in the conference tournament, which starts next early week. And who knows– with our premiere defense, if we can find a way to get Maya Hayes to put on a disguise and join the men’s team, we might be able to compete next season.
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