MIDDLETOWN, PA - The 2008 Penn State Harrisburg Men´s Soccer program looks at its´ second year competing in the NCAA. This year´s team brings more experience and game knowledge to their roster with the acquisition of new freshman and transfer students. These newcomers will join the six returning players to make a run at the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Championship title. Now in his fourth year, Coach Mark Brown looks for this season to be a positive one. "We have the strongest group of guys since I´ve been coaching here," said Brown. "We have players with a massive amount of game knowledge and experience. We have good depth this year, as well as, great team unity."

The Nittany Lions´ first year in NCAA turned out to be a powerful one. Battling tough opponents in the NEAC, the Nittany Lions posted a 3-3-2 conference record and earned their first ever NEAC playoff appearance. In their playoff game against the Express of Wells College, Mikhail Zapata-Rotz (Annville, PA/Annville-Cleona)scored the game´s first goal, unassisted, in the 62nd minute. Vedran Divkovic (Frankfurt, Germany) sealed the victory with his penalty kick in the 66th minute. Heading into the semi-finals, the Lions went head-to-head against the Crimson Eagles of Philadelphia Biblical University. In their last encounter both teams managed to get on the scoreboard once, but failed to score the winning goal due to excellent goalie work by Andrew Ecker (NEAC Goalie of the Year) and Andrew Geib (Harrisburg, PA/Susquehanna Twp.). For his great performance with 14 saves against PBU, Andrew Geib earned the Athlete of the Week honor.

With the stage set, Danny Francis (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) scored the game´s first goal coming off a corner kick in the 14th minute. The Crimson Eagles came back with a goal in the 52nd minute and another one in the 72nd minute to give the Nittany Lions the lost. The Lions of Penn State Harrisburg have made the playoffs three years in a row, appearing in two conference finals in 2005 and 2006*, but in 2008 Coach Brown expects "nothing less than the NEAC Championship title."

Joining the Men´s Soccer program in 2008 will be new assistant coach, Geoff Bloes. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University where he was a forward from 2003-2007. Geoff is also a member of the City Islanders soccer team. He is joined by former goal keeper for Penn State Harrisburg, Andrew Geib. Andrew will be working with both men´s and women´s goal keepers.

Two seniors will be returning in 2008 for one final season. Team co-captain and forward, Justin Sheaffer(Middleburg, PA/Midd-West) will be returning after receiving NEAC All-Conference Honorable Mention honors. Also returning is team co-captain and defender, Michael Marion (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East). Returning for the junior class is defender, Bryant Kallon Dunn (Ivory Coast, Africa/Protestant Methodist). The sophomore class looks to return three players in 2008. These include goalie Toan Ngo (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), Danny Francis, and Eli Saenz (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata). "Danny Francis had a good year last year. We expect him to be a treat in the conference." said Brown. Danny received NEAC 2nd team All-Conference honors.

Midfielders Michael Anderson (Hershey, PA/Center Valley), Jorge Avila (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East), Joshua Christ (Ephrata, PA/Living Word Academy), Josh Clinger (East Petersburg, PA/Hempfield), Jeff Duke (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon), Chad Guenthner (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra Area), Joshua McMahon(Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) and Defenders Daniel Guillen (San Jose, Costa Rica/American Community), Thomas Legal (Morgantown, PA/Twin Valley), David Little (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), Nicholas Slatt (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin), and Goalkeeper Ryan Zelliner (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) are all newcomers to the team this season which brings much talent and promise for future years.

The blue and white home opener will put them against Stevenson University on September 5th. Conference play will begins on September 13th for the Nittany Lions, facing off against SUNY IT. "Our schedule is well balanced," said Brown. "We have some tough non-conference games that will be a challenge, but we expect to do real well in our conference."