Nov. 11, 2010
Box Score
Site: University Park, Pa. (Jeffrey Field)
Score: Penn State 3, Northwestern 1
Records: NU (8-8-2), Penn State (12-6-1)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Freshman Reed Losee scored the first goal of the match late in the first half, but host Penn State rallied for three scores late in the second half to eliminate Northwestern, 3-1, from the 2010 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament Thursday evening.
The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions advance to take on Indiana, the No. 1 seed, in a semifinal round contest Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Wildcats likely saw their season come to an end with the defeat.
"We played as hard as we could," Northwestern head coach Tim Lenahan said. "That's three straight games where we took the lead and just ran out of gas. I'm very proud of the seniors. Six of them started and they all played great in their last appearance.
"Next year starts tomorrow and our goal will be to get back to the NCAA tournament. The guys worked hard the last month, but we just didn't have enough down the stretch."
In a fairly evenly played opening stanza, it was the Wildcats (tournament's No. 5 seed) who struck first in the 44th minute of play. Losee tallied his third goal of the season, beating PSU goalkeeper Brendan Birmingham. Jason Drews and Piero Bellizzi were credited with assists on the play. For Drews, a senior, it was the first point of his collegiate career.
Northwestern finished the opening half of play with five shots, while Penn State had eight. Drew Kotler and Birmingham each recorded two saves.
Penn State came out the aggressors in the second half and the Wildcats were able to hold them at bay time and time again. However, it was a likely source who tied the game for the Nittany Lions as Corey Hertzog, the Big Ten's leading goal-scorer, scored his 15th of the season at the 73:36 mark.
The match appeared headed for overtime, but Jordan Tyler notched the go-ahead goal for Penn State at 84:49 and Hertzog tacked on another at 87:48 to account for the final margin.
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