Oct. 14, 2009

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Lafayette men's soccer team, facing its second ranked opponent of the fall in No. 24 Penn State, hung tough with the Nittany Lions for the majority of the action on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, two late Penn State goals resulted in a 2-0 road loss for the Leopards.

The two teams played shutout ball for nearly 65 minutes of the match and Lafayette goalie Andrew Pianko, making only his third start of the fall, finished with six saves in the game. However, two Jason Yeisley goals less than 10 minutes apart late in the second half broke up the shutout.

The Nittany Lions (8-3-2) took 21 shots to the Leopards' eight and had six corner kick opportunities while Lafayette (7-4-1) had only two. Freshmen Blake Fink and Sean Peckham took two shots apiece and Penn State goalie Warren Gross made five saves against the Leopards.

Lafayette took only three first-half shots, all of which were on goal and kept Gross on his toes. Pianko was equally as solid, making one save in the first 45 minutes to keep the Nittany Lions off the scoreboard. Penn State nearly took a 1-0 edge at halftime as Yeisley and Drew Cost both registered shots with less than 40 seconds to play, but both were blocked, keeping it 0-0 at the midway point.

The second half started out in similar fashion as the teams traded shots without either side finding the back of the net. The Nittany Lions finally converted a scoring opportunity in the 66th minute when Yeisley knocked a header from eight yards out off the crossbar and past Pianko.

Yeisley upped that to a 2-0 Penn State lead less than 10 minutes later when he knocked yet another header into the goal on a cross from Matheus Braga from the left wing.

Lafayette returns to Patriot League play on Saturday when the Leopards host Colgate at 7 p.m.