Penn State (8-7-2, 4-3 Big Ten) traveled to East Lansing for its Big Ten quarterfinal against No. 15 Michigan State. The Spartans (12-4-1, 4-3-1 Big Ten) tried to avenge a regular season overtime loss to the Nittany Lions and knocked Penn State out of the tournament with a 2-1 win.

How It Happened

Evan Finney was forced to make a couple saves in the opening minutes of this game, but couldn’t keep the Spartans off the board for too long. After Finney came up with a big save on an open look inside the box, the rebound bounced out to Giuseppe Barone, who struck it with the outside of his foot at the top of the box into the bottom corner to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead after 18 minutes.

Senior leading goalscorer Connor Maloney equalized near the end of the half for the Nittany Lions. Penn State had a free kick well outside the box that Maloney decided to strike, and he put it over the wall and into the bottom corner in the 41st minute to make it 1-1 at the half.

.@PennStateMSOC's Connor Maloney scores the 1-1 equalizer just before half in the B1G Soccer quarterfinal. https://t.co/rdfpefzuer

— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) November 6, 2016

The Penn State goal was under fire for a large portion of the second half and Michigan State finally found the breakthrough in the 75th minute. Jimmy Fiscus scored on a diving header off a rebound to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead with 15 minutes left.

Penn State couldn’t score late despite a surge in the final minutes as the Spartans advanced to the Big Ten semifinals.

Player Of The Game

Jimmy Fiscus | Defender | Junior

Fiscus got on the end of a rebound off a big Evan Finney save to score the game-winning goal.

What’s Next

The NCAA will select its 48 teams for the tournament on November 14, but with Penn State coming in at No. 69 in the RPI, it’s likely the end of the season for the Nittany Lions.