MARCY, N.Y. - The Penn State Harrisburg men's soccer team continues to show their strong character as they came ready to play against the defending North Eastern Atlantic Conference (NEAC) champs in SUNYIT. Unfortunately for the blue and white, despite the effort being there, the end result did fall in its favor as the Lions fell on the road to the Wildcats 2-0 on Saturday, Sep. 29.
The visitors started the game strong by moving the ball from side to side while continuously moving without the ball. This allowed the Lions to create some early chances. Justin Henderson (Cherry Hill, N.J. / Cherry Hill East) almost got the men up early as he just missed an acrobatic rebound shot missing high over the goal. The first ten minutes of play really showed the improvement the Lions have made since the beginning of the season.
But the Wildcats were also strong and would take advantage of one of their first opportunities and capitalize on a cross that Josh Kimber shot and scored for the first goal of the day in the 11th minute.
The rest of the half evened out and had a lot of back and forth play. The game was filled with plenty of hard challenges. They finished the half with the score 1-0 in the Wildcats favor.
The second half was even more exciting than the first. The fans were loud and energized; not just the SUNYIT faithful as Penn State Harrisburg had a nice cheering section for being so far from home. The ball just didn't fall the Lions' way today. The Wildcats scored a second goal in the 61st from a rocket to the top right corner from 30 yards out.
The blue and white would not give up and pushed at the end to try and grab a goal in hopes of making a comeback. The chance almost came with just under five minutes remaining when Henderson found himself 1v1 with the keeper. But his goal today would not come as he was robbed thanks to nice save from the Wildcat goalie.
"SUNY IT was fast, quick, organized and ready to play; they gave us a great game," said Penn State Harrisburg Assistant Coach Kenny Archer. "We needed to put the ball in the net when we had our chances and did not."
"But as a whole, we are still doing what we have attempted to do since day one; play our game, refine the little things and continue to get better," Archer continued.
"We really wanted to win today" said Penn State Harrisburg senior Alex Belanger (Carlisle, Pa. / Big Spring) after the game. It showed with the effort the Lion men continue to bring to every match.
Penn State Harrisburg will not be able to dwell on the game long as they are already preparing for another big conference match up against SUNY Cobleskill on Sunday, Sep 30.