By Joe Ruby
Contributing Writer
The men’s soccer team defeated No. 15 Penn State 2-1 on Friday and fell to No. 11 Ohio State by the same score on Sunday at the Penn State Classic in State College. Brendan Burgdorf ’13 scored in each game and was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Ross Liberati ’11 and Ryan Sappington ’12.
Burgdorf’s goal against Penn State, his first of the year, came with 13:45 remaining on a header from a corner kick by Tommy McCabe ’11, breaking the 1-1 draw and propelling the Orange and Blue to their second straight win at Jeffrey Field.
Penn State began the scoring at 1:14 when the ball was played across the box from deep in the right corner and Jordan Tylerhis career. The Bison had trouble generating offense until the 37th minute, when a free kick was taken from just outside the box and the resulting pressure forced a Penn State miscue. The ball went off a defender’s foot to score the first goal against Penn State this year.
The Nittany Lions outshot the Bison 22-11, but only managed three shots on goal. Goalkeeper Tommy Caso ’12 saved a difficult close-range header in the first half, and made a sprawling stop in the 86th minute to preserve the Bison advantage.
Against Ohio State, Burgdorf’s goal, assisted by Luke Joyner ’12 at the 77:29 mark, pulled the Bison to within one goal. Ohio State defense held strong from that point on. The Buckeyes’ first goal was scored 17 minutes into the game when Konrad Warzycha’s free kick deflected off a defender into the net. Ohio State scored an insurance goal at the 76:31 mark, when Austin McAnena broke away from defense and put one in from the 6 yard line.
The Bison outshot Ohio State 10-9 and earned eight corner kicks to the Buckeyes’ two. Ohio State improved to 4-0-0 on the season.
The Bison (2-2-0) compete next in the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Tournament in Charleston, taking on the College of Charleston (1-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Furman (3-1-0) at noon on Sunday.