COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Oct. 14, 2004) ¨C The 20th-ranked Penn State menĄŻs soccer team was outshot 14-7 and had 21 fouls to just three for Maryland, but the Nittany Lions got goals from three different players as they knocked off the 21st-ranked Terps 4-1 on a beautiful night at Ludwig Field.
Penn State (6-2-5) snapped a four game winless streak with the win. It will make its way back to Jeffrey Field for a four game homestand beginning with a Big Ten match against Ohio State at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Maryland dropped to 7-4-1 with the loss.
Freshman goalkeeper Conrad Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had an outstanding game in net, stopping five shots. The game was a chippy one, with seven yellow cards being handed out. MarylandĄŻs only three fouls were all yellow cards.
Penn State got on the board first at 14 minutes, 8 seconds on a team goal. Despite not recording a shot on goal at that point, the Nittany Lions scored after freshman Stephen Reihner (Washington, Pa.) put a throw-in into the box. Junior Brian Devlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) headed it to the far post where he had a streaking Chad Severs (Ocean City, N.J.), but Maryland midfielder Pat Wilson headed it past his own goalkeeper Noah Palmer to make it 1-0.
Penn State nearly made it 2-0 at 19:50 when junior Mike Lindemann (Yardley, Pa.) sent a 50/50 ball into the box. Palmer came out and misplayed it and Severs had a shot at an open net. His header was saved by Maryland defender Kenney Bertz.
The best chance for the Terps to score in the first half came when Kevin Reiman sent a pass into the box, where Stephen King got a head on it, but it sailed high of the net to keep it at 1-0 going into halftime.
A flurry of activity marked the beginning of the second half. Sophomore Simon Omekanda (Rochester Hills, Mich.) just missed his fourth goal wide of the net after racing down the right sideline with two defenders blanketing him. He released a shot from the corner of the top of the box, but missed by about two yards wide left.
Senior Kenji Treschuk (Honolulu, Hawaii) didnĄŻt miss on his chance to score. He became the 12th different Nittany Lion to score a goal this season when he headed a ball past Palmer at 50:40.
But before Penn State could settle in and get comfortable with the 2-0 lead, Maryland struck just 20 seconds later. Reiman sent a long pass down the center of the field off the kick. Taylor came out of the net and was just shy of the ball when Domenic Mediate slipped it by him to make it 2-1 at 51:00.
Fortunately for the Nittany Lions, Omekanda was able to capitalize, a give-and-go with freshman Richard Costanzo (Jefferson Hills, Pa.), on his next chance to make it 3-1 at 63:05. Senior Anthony Calvano (Haymarket, Va.) took a throw-in and Omekanda touched the ball to Costanzo at midfield. Omekanda broke to the center of the field and received a perfect one-touch pass from Costanzo on a breakaway with one defender trailing him. Omekanda was pulled down in the box, but not before he snuck a shot into the lower left corner of the net.
Trying to press and get within one goal, the TerpsĄŻ offense sent a flurry of activity in TaylorĄŻs direction. Taylor made a diving save of a point-blank shot from Mediate, but the rebound came out to Reiman, who was stopped on a tremendous save by Taylor with 22 minutes left.
Taylor made another outstanding diving save on another shot just two minutes later.
The Nittany Lions put the game out of reach on an innocent looking shot at 73:18 when junior David Walters (Hunlock Creek, Pa.) put a shot over PalmerĄŻs head from 35 yards out. Walters became the 13th different Penn State player to score this season with the goal.
No. 20 Penn State 4 No. 21 Maryland 1 Penn State 1 3 ¨C 4 Maryland 0 1 - 1 Scoring First half 1. Own Goal, PSU, (unassisted) 14:08. Second half 2. Kenji Treschuk, PSU, (Stephen Reihner, Brian Devlin) 50:50; 3. Domenic Mediate, UMD, (Kevin Reiman) 51:00; 4. Simon Omekanda, PSU, (Richard Costanzo) 63:05; 5. David Walters, PSU, (unassisted) 73:18. Shots: PSU ¨C 7; UMD ¨C 14. Saves: PSU ¨C 5 (Conrad Taylor); UMD ¨C 1 (Noah Palmer, Craig Salvati). Corner kicks: PSU ¨C 2; UMD - 11. Fouls: PSU ¨C 21; UMD - 3. Records: PSU ¨C 6-2-5; UMD ¨C 7-4-1. Next game: Ohio State at No. 20 Penn State, 2 p.m. Sunday.
