Penn State men’s soccer (1-0-1, 0-0 Big Ten) lost 2-1 against Army (1-0-1, 0-0 Patriot League) in its road opener at Malek Stadium at Clinton Field on Sunday night.

It was a very physical first half as both teams committed 13 fouls combined, but Army broke through in the 41st minute on a goal by Miles Hadley. The Black Knights got off to a fast start in the second half as they extended their lead to two on a goal by Jubril Bamgbala. Both teams had to finish the game with 10 men as Bamgbala and Grabfelder both received red cards. The Nittany Lions managed to make things interesting after scoring a goal in the 85th minute, but Army managed to hold on to the 2-1 victory in the end.

How It Happened

Penn State started almost the same lineup from its win against Stetson, but made a switch at goalkeeper as goalkeeper Frederick Grundin started over Jonathan Evans. The first half got underway, and in the fourth minute, Army’s Owen Ennis hit a shot from long distance that almost went in and went out of bounds for a Penn State goal kick.

Army kept putting pressure on Penn State’s defense and had another opportunity to score two minutes later, but it was blocked by Samuel Ovensen. The Nittany Lions started to settle into the game and managed to get into the Black Knights’ final third twice, but were called for offside on both occasions.

In the 14th minute, the Black Knights had another opportunity to get on the scoresheet, but Justice Willis’ shot went off-target. Unfortunately, Penn State suffered a huge blow in the 17th minute as forward Jeppe Runge suffered an injury that forced him to come out of the game. Ben Madore came on to replace him. Two minutes later, Army had a dangerous free kick, but the cross was punched away by Grundin. Penn State could not clear away the danger, and the Black Knights had another opportunity, but it allowed Grundin to get the ball easily.

This match got very physical in a span of three minutes as a total of three fouls were committed. The third foul was committed by Willis, which gave the Nittany Lions a dangerous free kick. Caden Grabfelder took the free kick, but it went off the foot of a player in the wall, and the ball went out of bound,s which gave them a corner kick. They could not take advantage of it as Army cleared away the danger.

In the 26th minute, Penn State got its first scoring opportunity as Freddie Bell took a shot outside the box, but Army’s goalkeeper, Michael Guiry, made an easy save. The Nittany Lions continued to pile up the pressure offensively and Penn State’s Morgan Marshall had two great opportunities to score but couldn’t convert on either as both shots went wide.

The physicality of this game kept on going as Army committed two fouls in less than a minute. On the second foul, Penn State had another dangerous free kick close to the bottom of the box. Matthew Henderson took a shot that was headed on target but was blocked, which gave the Nittany Lions a corner kick. Henderson got another shooting opportunity, but his shot went off-target.

In the 40th minute, the Black Knights had a dangerous throw-in on the left side of Penn State’s territory. Army’s Sean Adu-Gyamfi played a perfect cross into the box and Miles Hadley was there to head it in as the Black Knights broke through to take a 1-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions played the high press right after the goal and Grabfelder hit a shot from long distance that hit off the top of the crossbar before going out for a corner kick. On the corner kick, a perfect cross was played to Van Danielson, who was wide open, but he failed to get a shot on target as Penn State missed a golden opportunity to tie the game in the 42nd minute. Just as the half was about to end, Grabfelder committed a foul, and things started to get heated between both teams as the first half came to an end.

Unlike the first half, Army got off to a fast start as Ronald Zhai got the first shot of the half that was blocked. However, the ball rebounded toward him, and Zhai drove the ball down the right flank before playing a perfect cross toward Jubril Bamgbala, who headed the ball into the back of the net to extend the Black Knights’ lead to two.

Penn State started to get desperate, and Henderson got a shot on target but was saved by Guiry as the ball went out of bounds for a corner kick. It could not capitalize on this opportunity as Army cleared away the danger. In the 52nd minute, Henderson got another shot, but this time it went off-target.

The tempo of the game slowed down for the next 10 minutes, but in the 61st minute, Penn State got its fourth corner of the game as it looked to score its first goal of the game. The ball was played into the box, and Guiry almost got the ball out of danger. The Nittany Lions recovered the ball and Grabfelder had a great opportunity to score, but his shot that was inside the box went off-target.

Penn State earned another corner a minute later and as Marshall was trying to take a shot outside the box, Bamgbala committed a foul on Marshall, and the ref controversially gave him a red card. This forced the Black Knights to go down 10 men for the rest of the game. However, this man advantage was short-lived for the Nittany Lions as Grabfelder was given a red card for a take down on Army’s Jack Meyer less than two minutes later.

This gave a lot of momentum for Army as it got aggressive on the attack, as they had three shots in the span of two minutes but could not convert on either chance. Both teams went back-and-forth for the next 10 minutes, but in the 75th minute, Penn State had another chance to get on the board on a shot by Henderson, but it was saved by Guiry. Kai Phillip had another scoring opportunity in the next minute, but his shot was off-target.

In the 78th minute, Marshall had another opportunity to put the Nittany Lions on the board, but his shot was off target. The tempo of the game slowed for the next six minutes, but the physicality was not going away as three yellow cards were given out during this time, two to Penn State and one to Army.

However, the Nittany Lions refused to go away and finally broke through in the 85th minute on a header by Ben Nash that was assisted by Ben Madore on a corner kick to get within one goal of tying the game at two. With less than three minutes left, Penn State got a dangerous opportunity on a free kick. The ball played into the box and Guiry could not clear the ball, which ricocheted to Madore, who had a great opportunity to tie the game.

However, Madore’s shot looked to be heading into the goal but was cleared off the line by the Black Knights. The Nittany Lions managed to get two more shots before the ball went out of bounds for a corner. On the corner, Malick Daouda headed the ball toward goal, but Guiry made another save as Army got the ball out of danger. Penn State had one more opportunity to score on a shot by Henderson, but once again, Guiry made another save before the game came to an end as Army held on to the win.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s inefficiency on goal was very evident today. They had 20 shots with eight going on-target and managed to score only a single goal. Unlike Penn State, Army had ten shots with two going on-target and managed to convert on both chances.
• There was a lot of physicality between both teams committed 13 fouls combined in the first half and 14 in the second half, including a red card for both teams. A total of 11 yellow cards were given out in this game. However, the Black Knights turned out to be the more physical, as both of their goals came on headers and the Nittany Lions struggled to keep up with them.
• Army’s goalkeeper, Michael Guiry, was the MVP of the game today. He had a total of six saves and only allowed Penn State to score one goal. His defense also had a huge impact in keeping the Nittany Lions out of the net as they cleared the ball off the line in the dying moments when it looked like they were going to tie the game.

What’s Next?

Penn State will look to rebound from its first loss as it travels to Syracuse, New York, where it will take on Syracuse on Thursday, August 28 at 8 p.m. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.