Most Penn State students spent their Fall Break traveling home to visit their families and catch up on some much-needed sleep. But the Penn State men's soccer team instead chose to spend their holiday here in Happy Valley and move closer to their goal of winning a Big Ten championship.
The No. 17 Nittany Lions (7-2, 3-1 Big Ten) earned two important victories against Big Ten opponents over the weekend, defeating Northwestern 3-0 Friday night and beating Wisconsin 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.
The Lions began the weekend by hammering an overpowered Northwestern squad that lacks scholarships and has not won a game since November 1999. Penn State outshot the Wildcats 28-3, but Northwestern stacked a wall of purple jerseys in front of their net all night and did not give the Penn State offense much breathing room.
"Since they were packing it in we had to go around them, and it was hard getting quality shots with so many people in the box," junior Brett Forbrich said.
Forbrich, normally a forward, was given a starting spot as a defender against the Wildcats as Lions' head coach Barry Gorman shuffled his team's lineup. Gorman's maneuver paid off, as Forbrich tallied his first goal of the season at 31:50 to give Penn State a 1-0 edge.
Senior forward Ken Lear added to the Penn State lead just under 10 minutes later, scoring on a breakaway after a sharp pass from freshman Chad Severs. Lear, used mostly as a substitute this season, has been a surprise for the squad as he leads his team with four goals.
Freshman Joe Zewe came off the bench in the second half and sealed the Nittany Lion victory by redirecting a cross from defender Ben Dawson for his first goal of the year.
On Sunday, Gorman became the winningest coach in Penn State men's soccer history as his team shut out the Badgers (6-4-1, 0-1 Big Ten). The win was the 186th of Gorman's career, eclipsing the previous mark held by Walter Bahr.
The victory did not come easily, however, as the two teams battled in a highly physical contest typical of Big Ten soccer. Bodies collided all over the field throughout the blustery autumn afternoon, but the Penn State offense was able to shine.
Severs made several outstanding plays in the first half, including his goal at just over five minutes into the game to open the scoring. The Ocean City, N.J., native drove a pass from senior co-captain Derek Potteiger past Wisconsin goalkeeper Moriba Atiba Baker to give Penn State the early lead.
"Derek Potteiger set me up real nicely," Severs said. "He made it so easy for me to just finish inside, from about five yards out."
Severs later sent a crossing pass to senior defender Chris Stout, who punched it in at 32:04 to make the score 2-0.
This would be the final goal of the game, and as the afternoon wind got harsher, so did the action on the field. Much of the second half was plagued by rough play, and two Lions, Stout and junior Brent Jacquette, received yellow cards.
"Wisconsin's always a tough team and they have big guys that like to bang the bodies around," Stout said. "You knew they were going to come in here fired up, it's a Big Ten game and it means a lot. It was pretty much expected."
The Lions hope that the physical nature of Sunday's game will not be a factor as the team travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell tonight at 7. The contest will be Penn State's third game in five days.
"It's definitely going to wear us down," Stout said. "We're just going to try to relax and recuperate, and get ready for (tonight)."
