Evanston, Ill. October 4, 2002 - The Penn State men's soccer team fared well in its first conference road test of the year after knocking off home-standing Northwestern 2-1 Friday afternoon at Lakeside Field. Senior tri-captain, Brent Jacquette (Wallingford, Pa.) got the Nittany Lions over the hump after netting a penalty kick late in the game to secure the win for Penn State.

The win raised Penn State's record to 7-4-0 on the season and improved its Big Ten mark to 2-1-0, while Northwestern fell to 4-6-0 overall and 0-2-0 in league play.

Penn State jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first half of action after Gabe Bernstein (Maplewood, N.J.) buried a shot from 30 yards out to give the Nittany Lions the one-goal advantage at the intermission. The goal was the first of the season for the sophomore midfielder.

After the break, the Wildcats answered when freshman Jaro Pylypczak netted his first career goal to knot the score at one apiece. Paul Elkins and David Vargas teamed up for assists on the score for Northwestern.

With the score tied 1-1, Jacquette broke through the Northwestern defense into the goalbox where he was fouled. With the game on the line, Jacquette came up big as returning All-Big Ten selection iced the game for Penn State by sinking the penalty kick. The game-winner was the first of the season for Jacquette.

The Nittany Lions will complete their weekend road trip on Sunday afternoon, when they travel to Madison, Wisc., to do battle with the Badgers in a conference showdown. Penn State enters the contest with 9-4-1 series advantage over the Badgers.

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