UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Aug. 20, 2004) - The Penn State men's soccer team, despite a difficult travel schedule, held Santos Pro B scoreless for the first 80 minutes before giving up four unanswered goals in a 4-0 loss in its first preseason game held Friday in Brazil.

The Nittany Lions arrived early Thursday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, traveled two hours to its hotel and held its first practice session of the season before traveling another two hours to a professional soccer match between Sao Paulo and Criciuma at Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paolo.

Despite getting less than six hours of rest, Penn State and sophomore goalkeeper Matt Novchich (Asheville, N.C.) held Santos Pro B scoreless for the first 50 minute half. Freshman Conrad Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) then held Santos Pro B scoreless for the first 30 minutes of his collegiate career. But Santos Pro B rotated three different sets of players into the game against the Nittany Lions' 17 players and the fresh legs were able to tally four goals in the final 20 minutes.

"Considering we haven't played or trained, we did very well," said Penn State head coach Barry Gorman. "This is something that we can definitely build on."

The Nittany Lions will be back in action at 10 a.m. Sunday when they play Portuguesa de Desportos.

Penn State will have a light practice session on Riviera Beach on Saturday before attending another professional soccer match between Corthinians and Gremio at Pacaembu Stadium.

For more information on Penn State men's soccer, please visit our official athletics website at www.GoPSUsports.com.