Penn State shaking off early season rust through first two matches

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Penn State returned from its defeat against Clemson, beating Army 2-1, with Olimpico goals from Matthew Henderson and Caden Grabfelder.

The Nittany Lions struggled to generate offensive chances for a second straight match. In the first half, Penn State took five shots but each one was off target.

However, while the Nittany Lions were unable to generate clear-cut chances, head coach Jeff Cook appreciated Penn State’s aggression and directness in the second half, which created the corner kicks that led to the Olimpico goals.

“We talked about being more vertical, and we had to get runs through their line. I thought that created the corner kicks” said Cook. “You look, I don’t think we had a corner kick in the first half, and that’s a good indication of us being more willing to take some risk going forward.”

Coach Cook stressed that his team couldn’t rely on Olympico’s the entire season.

“We had really good pace in our attack, a lot of good combinations, and then we started to force things, maybe take too many touches,” Cook explained.

Growing pains are to be expected early in a season, even more so for the Nittany Lions who lost several key players last season, most notably top scorer Peter Mangione, who signed with FC Cincinnati 2. Mangione led Penn State’s attack last season scoring 10 goals, six more than the team's second leading scorer. Penn State also started its season against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, which meant the team spent the majority of the match on the back foot and didn’t have much of a chance to display Coach Cook’s attack.

Against Army, the Nittany Lions’ front three made mistakes expected of a team with only a few matches under its belt. Multiple Penn State attacks in the first half petered out due to misplayed passes and miscommunication.

Coach Cook acknowledged the mistakes the Nittany Lions made with the ball in this match but explained it’s to be expected of a team with 12 new faces.

“I’m really impressed with our group,” Cook said. “I think we have great depth, but it’s a lot of new players to kind of coordinate to get the partnerships working correctly.”

Last season coach Cook’s first homestand started with a bang. Penn State dismantled Le Moyne and then shocked the country by drawing with Syracuse, the number-one team in the nation at the time.

The Nittany Lions haven’t started the season in the same fashion as that year, but Coach Cook has optimism for his team in their development early in the season.

“There’s really good characters in the team, but it’s going to take some time, and I think they’re smart enough to know we’re building towards something,” Cook said.” And I think that will show hopefully in the next few games.”

Owen Cameros is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ohc5024@psu.edu.