Posted: Nov 04, 2014
Penn State Harrisburg has been a performance driven team the past two seasons. In their 2013 campaign they played with just about everyone while outplaying many, despite a tough three win season. In 2014, the stellar performances continued along with an increased level of experience and a solid recruiting class that has brought about a change to the program that will be hard to forget.
The Lions turnaround has helped them finish the regular season 12-4-1 and 5-3-1 in the Capital Athletic Conference. Their one and only tie came last Wednesday when Jon Willingham (Harrisburg, Pa. / Sci-Tech High) scored both of the team's goals to help the Blue and White finish second place overall and earn a bye to the CAC semi-finals. Quite the turnaround from just a year ago.
Head coach Seamus Donnelly may change his performance based focus in hopes of a win and stay alive mentality the playoffs often take. However, if the men keep focused on playing their style of soccer the Lions feel well placed to make a deep run this postseason.
Harrisburg has had huge efforts from a multitude of players this year. Offensively junior standout Aaron Kline (Lebanon, Pa. / Eastern Lebanon County) has dominated up top. He has scored eight goals this season, including three game winners. Freshman Alex Panuccio (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Mechanicsburg Area) also has three game winners to go with his five goals and two assists.
Defensively the entire back line has done tremendous all year, but Brandon Hoover (Lancaster, Pa. / Pequea Valley) has laid his body on the line throughout helping hold Harrisburg's overall goals against total to just 15. Hoover's inspired play has helped lead Penn State Harrisburg to what is arguably the best season in the team's short history.
All the hard work over the past two years has built up to this one monumental home playoff game. The Lions will host their first Capital Athletic Conference men's soccer playoff match in program history Wednesday. They will face the #6 seed St. Mary's Seahawk's who defeated the #3 seed Frostburg St. on the road this past Saturday 1-0.
The Seahawk's defeated Penn State Harrisburg 2-0 on the Lions home field to start conference play earlier this season. Since then the Lions have won five conference matches, including two wins over nationally ranked opponents Christopher Newport and Salisbury.
Make sure to come out and support the Penn State Harrisburg men's soccer team Wednesday at 6:00 pm when they kick off against the Seahawks for the epic rematch at the Penn State Harrisburg Soccer Complex. If they win they would advance to the CAC finals to play against the winner of Christopher Newport and Salisbury.