Penn State men’s soccer rounded out its 2021 class with the addition of two new members Wednesday afternoon.

Mansour “Mani” Diop and graduate transfer Christopher Palacios both announced their commitments to Jeff Cook’s program.

Defender Diop joins the Nittany Lions from the Philadelphia Union Academy. The Kaolack, Senegal native moved to the United States at 14, and played high school soccer at the Pennington School in New Jersey from 2017-2019. Diop earned first team all-state honors before he joined the Union Academy and played games for the Philadelphia Union 2 team in 2020 and 2021.

Palacios joins the Nittany Lions from Dartmouth College. The goalkeeper played all four years at Dartmouth, and led the Big Green to an Ivy League Championship in 2017 and to the No. 15 overall seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The Virginia native intends to build upon his degree in economics and minor of environmental science by obtaining a Masters in BioRenewable Systems while with the Nittany Lions.

“We are very excited to welcome Chris and Mani to our Nittany Lion men’s soccer family,” Cook said in the team’s announcement. “They will be wonderful additions to our program. I look forward to adding their energy, soccer talent, and high character to our program.”