Penn State men’s soccer faced a ton of roster overhaul heading into its 2026 season.

Eight-year head coach Jeff Cook resigned in November 2025, paving the way for Pat Kraft to make a splash hire in Rob Dow. Dow spent 14 years leading Vermont, winning a 2024 national title in the process.

The Nittany Lions only had three returning players from Cook’s final year join Dow’s debut season. The new-look squad played its first Big Ten match against Washington and is set to open conference play at Jeffrey Field on Friday.

College soccer is different from other sports in that a lot of a team’s makeup doesn’t come from players straight out of high school. Soccer players are better off in club academies to gain valuable experience, as the school system in the United States isn’t as sophisticated at truly developing soccer players.

Penn State is no different.

The ramp-up in Big Ten play makes it a perfect time to take a look at the unique soccer journeys of some of the new guys on the Jeffrey Field pitch.

Daniel Peluffo-Wiese

Penn State’s newest goalkeeper has played every minute for the Nittany Lions so far in 2026. He’s saved 14 shots, including eight in Penn State’s loss to the reigning national championship Huskies.

The Miami native didn’t even go to high school. He was homeschooled and trained with the New York Red Bulls’ academy in 2018 before going to Germany to sign with SpVgg Unterhaching, which currently plays in the fourth tier of German soccer. He signed a one-year professional contract with cross-town team Türkgücü München.

Daniel Peluffo-Wiese left Germany and made a quick pit stop in Italy with Serie D side Livorno. That was his final European stop before heading to Uruguay, his dad’s native country. He signed with the country’s oldest club, Albion F.C., in early 2025.

Peluffo-Wiese even chose to represent Uruguay at the youth level, getting three starts for the U-20 national team back in 2022.

Noah Forster

Junior defender Noah Forster has started four of Penn State’s five games so far. He notched an assist in his Nittany Lion debut against Mercyhurst in August.

Forster most recently spent two seasons in Fortuna Dusseldorf’s system in Germany, where he worked his way into the team’s second squad in the Regionalliga.

Before that, he earned most of his minutes in the U-19 and U-17 Bundesliga with Bonner SC and Fortuna Cologne. He scored two goals and assisted two more in 2,467 minutes in the U-19 Bundesliga.

Luca Sowinski

One of Penn State’s newest midfielders comes with a vast amount of experience on FC Barcelona’s U-19 MLS Next squad.

Luke Sowinski went to high school at ASU Prep Casa Grande, which partners with Barça Residency Academy USA to continue high school students’ education while allowing them to train as professional players.

Sowinski scored 15 goals with the Barcelona academy side after playing with City SC in his hometown of Carlsbad, California.

Moritz Weber

The German theme doesn’t seem to have an end with the new-look Nittany Lions.

Defender Moritz Weber played with FC Hertha 03 Zehlendorf in the Regionalliga Northeast, the fourth tier of German soccer. He also had some time with the German U-15 and U-14 national teams.

Weber most recently suited up in one game for national runners-up NC State in 2025, where he registered one shot on goal in 45 minutes.

Joe Buckley

Like Sowinski, defender Joe Buckley trained with FC Barcelona’s academy while studying at ASU Prep Casa Grande. He trained for two seasons with the squad and competed in the USL. He also suited up for Orange County SC in the league.

Buckley turned major heads with Barcelona’s U.S. academy, earning an invite to train at the team’s main La Masia academy base in Spain.

He earned minutes with the team’s U-18 Juvenil B squad, which has produced Barcelona greats like Lionel Messi, Gerard Piqué, and Cesc Fàbregas.

Sam Fielding

The Oundle, United Kingdom, native did not play for any fancy Premier League academy, but he did represent Loughborough University in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Football League.

Sam Fielding led the school to a 17-game unbeaten streak in his first season and won the national title in his first year as the team’s captain. He and Duquesne transfer Grant McIntosh are the only graduate students on Penn State’s roster.

Etienne Reck

Forward Etienne Reck is another part of the Germany-to-Penn-State pipeline, most recently logging minutes for KFC Uerdingen 05 in the Oberliga Niederrhein, an amateur division in the fifth level of Germany’s league system.

Reck lit it up.

He scored 11 goals and registered 10 assists in 33 games for the squad, playing all 90 minutes in 17 of those matches. Before his time there, he made appearances in the Regionalliga West, U-19 Bundesliga, and U-17 Bundesliga.

With backgrounds stretching across the world, Dow’s roster is one of the most diverse in the nation. While the pieces may need time to gel, there’s plenty of international experience on display.

Jeffrey Field could soon host one of the most uniquely dangerous teams in college soccer.