Syracuse's Late and Quick Response Spoils Penn State's Upset Bid

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was a mini-whiteout at Jeffery Field for the top 20 matchup between No. 1 Syracuse Orange and No. 20 Penn State Nittany Lions. 90 minutes wasn’t enough time for either of these teams to claim the victory leading to Penn State getting their second draw of the season, and Syracuse their first.

The first started pretty sloppy for both teams with a lot of fifty-fifty balls that didn’t set up many chances. This was also because of the superb defense that was being displayed by both teams and some excellent goaltending from PSU keeper Chris Shakes.

“I would like to give the glory to God always. Without him you know, he gives me the strength and the power to wake up every day and do this as a job. And then definitely the atmosphere, we feed off that,” said Shakes.

Shakes, who recently was awarded with Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, would end the game with a total of five saves. A few of those saves really caught the attention of his head coach, Jeff Cook.

“I think that’s probably one of the best goalkeeping performances you will see in a college soccer game and I think he deserved a shutout,” said Cook.

Cook also went on to note that it isn't just Shake’s play that stalls other teams from gaining momentum but also helps propel the Nittany Lions.

“You know I think that gives you the confidence and I thought that as we got deeper into the second half the team settled down and Danielson made a great run. You know we get a man advantage and the whole game spins,” Cook said.

And with the team settled down and being a man up Penn State really started to apply some pressure and got some good looks. But none better than a beautiful cross from Alex Stevenson led to a header that found the back of the net from Freshman star Caden Grabfelder.

When asked if it were moments like those he dreamed of when committing to Penn State Grabfelder answered, “Yeah of course….I knew it was gonna come right into that area and so I had to do it.”

But just 13 seconds later Syracuse’s Pablo Pedregosa responded with an equalizer which left the crowd stunned. With a quick turnaround and another game Monday, Penn State knows it must shift its focus to getting prepared.

“Tomorrow we are just going to watch film, see what we can do to prevent that from happening because obviously in the first game against Pitt, we conceded in the last ten minutes and then tonight we conceded with two minutes left so just that idea of closing the game off…just finishing it,” said Shakes.

Yet nonetheless, it was still a very encouraging performance from the Nittany Lions who have now already faced two top teams in the country and have battled well which could translate to some success down the stretch.

Penn State Men’s Soccer's next game will be Monday night at Jeffery Field when they take on the St John’s Red Storm.

Rob Cardini is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email rvc5706@psu.edu