No. 19 Penn State (6-2-3, 2-1-1 Big Ten) lost to Indiana (4-3-4, 1-1-2 Big Ten) 2-1 at Jeffrey Field on Saturday. This is the Nittany Lions’ second loss of the season and ended their five-game unbeaten streak.  

Indiana drew first blood in the 21st minute by way of a Samuel Sarver goal. Sarver had another huge opportunity a few minutes later when the Hoosiers were given a penalty shot, but goalkeeper Kris Shakes came up huge to save the attempt. Peter Mangione managed to tie the game at one ahead of halftime but Sarver clinched the Hoosiers’ go-ahead goal.

How It Happened

Both teams struggled to get a rhythm early in the game, but after getting settled, Penn State won a corner in the third minute of the game. The corner was taken short before eventually the ball was crossed in and grabbed out of the air by Indiana goalkeeper JT Harms.  

The early kickoff didn’t catch the Nittany Lions sleeping as they pressed hard every time the Indiana back line touched the ball in the opening minutes of the match.  

With 35 minutes remaining in the half, Indiana found its footing and put the pressure on. Alex Stevenson and the rest of the Penn State defense wouldn’t let anything by them as they handled the Indiana attack perfectly.  

In the 17th minute, it was the Hoosiers’ turn to win a corner. They took it short and quickly shot the ball toward the goal. A last-ditch clearance from Penn State stopped Indiana from scoring the opening goal.  

Indiana struggled this season to score many goals but that isn’t due to a lack of shots. This trend continued as, in the first 20 minutes, Indiana took five shots to Penn State’s zero.  

In the 21st minute, Indiana converted one of its shots after a great sequence of play from the Hoosiers. Hugo Bacharach sent an excellent through ball to Samuel Sarver who then made a great move to get around Kris Shakes and find the back of the net.  

Penn State tried to change its fortunes with 19 minutes remaining as it made two substitutions. Van Danielson came on for Ben Liscum and Morgan Marshall for Samson Kpardeh.  

Instantly, the substitutions made a difference as the Nittany Lions won another corner with 17 minutes to go in the first half. Penn State was unable to cash in on the corner as the ball found a Hoosiers head and was subsequently cleared.  

Another wonderful through ball by Indiana saw Sarver get to the ball just before Shakes tripped him in the 18-yard box. Right away, the ref went to the review board to check for a potential penalty. After a quick review, Indiana was awarded its first penalty of the season.  

Indiana’s first penalty of the season resulted in an incredible Kris Shakes save. Shakes dove right and just barely got his feet on the ball.  

33:17 | PSU 0, IU 1

OH MY SHAKES

Another kick save for Shakey on a penalty kick pic.twitter.com/yLZHNKCboV

— Penn State Men’s Soccer (@PennStateMSOC) October 7, 2023

In the 34th minute, Penn State got a stroke of good fortune as the Indiana keeper made a mistake on an attempted clearance and Peter Mangione made no mistake as he found the back of the net for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.  

With the game all tied up, Jeff Cook made another substitution and brought on Quentin Flowers for Freddie Bell. Samuel Ovenson also subbed to relieve Caden Grabfelder.  

The final minutes of the first half had nothing in it as both teams struggled to get much of the ball and the half ended all knotted up at 1-1.  

Right out of halftime, Sarver continued his great play when he took on a Penn State defender one-on-one before he beat Shakes with a wonderful shot placed in the top right corner. The goal came just 90 seconds into the second half and took all of Penn State’s momentum left over from the first half away.  

The Hoosiers stayed on the front foot as they kept the ball in the Nittany Lions half for most of the first 7 minutes.  

Penn State got its first real chance of the match off a free kick in the attacking third. The ball floated into the box where it found Liscum’s head, but he was unable to redirect the ball into the goal.  

The first yellow card of the match was awarded to Grabfelder after he tangled up with an Indiana player in the 57th minute. 

Following the yellow card, Jeff Cook took Grabfelder out of the game and replaced him with Marshall.  

Another yellow card was shown in the 64th minute to Karsen Henderlong of Indiana. He was also subbed off directly after the booking.  

With 25 minutes remaining in the second half, the game had completely slowed down. Indiana took the sting out of the game, wasting as much time as possible trying to hold onto the lead. 

Penn State got another set-piece opportunity in the 73rd minute in a remarkably similar spot to the last one. The delivery wasn’t up to par as the ball hit off Kpardeh’s leg, and Indiana took possession of the ball again. 

With 13 minutes remaining, Penn State stuck to its approach in terms of using the long ball to spark the offense. Femi Awodesu’s ball found the feet of Kpardeh who made a shifty move before he won a corner off a deflected cross. The Nittany Lions got two shots from the corner, but couldn’t get either on the net.  

Atem Kato subbed on in the 79th minute as Jeff Cook attempted to find an offensive spark for his squad.

Penn State found some rhythm in the 80th minute as it worked to tie the game back up. A successful press by Kpardeh led to him getting the ball on the edge of the box where he took a shot that just barely missed and rattled off the crossbar.  

With four minutes left, Kpardeh gave Penn State another great chance when he carved through the Indiana backline all by himself and then sent a great ball into the box forcing a blocked shot from Indiana.

Kato also got a wonderful chance, getting on the end of a header that made Indiana’s keeper make a hard-fought save.  

The final minute of the game was filled with fouls. Mohamed Cisset got the worst of it and was shown two yellows, resulting in a red.  

Down to 10 men, Penn State couldn’t find an equalizer, and the game ended at 2-1 in favor of the Hoosiers.  

Takeaways

• Kris Shakes’ huge penalty save in the first half completely changed the game. Penn State gained the momentum it needed and started to play with more energy. This led to Penn State’s first goal and kept the game from getting out of hand
• Indiana outshot the Nittany Lions 16-11 throughout the matchup at Jeffrey Field. Penn State needs to conjure more shooting opportunities that may have changed the trajectory of its first conference loss.
• Indiana was fast to the ball and fast on the ball the whole game. Penn State struggled to handle the speed of players, like Samuel Sarver, and caused it to register 11 more fouls than Indiana.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will remain at home to play Northwestern at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 13, at Jeffrey Field, in the team’s annual Black Out game.