It hadn't happened in six weeks.
Twice the ball fluttered past a Nittany Lion goalkeeper into the back of the Penn State goal. The last time that happened was a 3-0 road letdown Sept. 20 against James Madison.
Sunday, the men's soccer team (8-4-2, 2-1-1 Big Ten) was back at the scene of their first loss of the season -- Sept. 4 against Cal State Fullerton -- and walked off the field with the same result. This time, the final whistle blew with Ohio State (8-3-3, 2-1-0) ahead, 2-1.
It was the Nittany Lions' first loss since the James Madison game, and it broke a six-game unbeaten stretch.
Penn State controlled the game in many respects, coaches and players agreed, but the opportunistic Buckeyes won the only category that matters -- goals.
When Ohio State's Austin McAnena beat Mackenzie Arment at the left elbow of the penalty area and scooted the ball past Warren Gross in the 14th minute, it was just the second time all season Barry Gorman's squad conceded a first-half marker.
That goal was a sharp reversal from the first 10 minutes of the game. The Nittany Lions registered five shots in that time and forced Ohio State's Matt Lampson to make four saves.
"The first 10 minutes we came out strong and it seemed like the game was ours," defender Andres Casais said. "I think mentally we clicked off on the game [after that]. The first half was really disorganized after those first 10 minutes."
The deficit doubled just after halftime, when Warzycha pounded the ball inside the right post off a misplayed Penn State clear in the 49th minute.
"They just took their two chances and they put them away," Gorman said. "We had some chances, really what you would classify as half-chances, because they came quickly to people, but they didn't go in."
Frank Costigliola answered for the Nittany Lions nine minutes later, but an equalizer proved elusive over the game's final half-hour. The senior midfielder took a shot from outside the box that deflected off a Buckeye defender and past Lampson.
"He took a shot that got deflected around the 18," captain Jason Yeisley said of the goal. "It was kind of a misdirection. It was going to the left side and then it went into the right side."
The Lions remain in first place in the Big Ten with seven points, as Indiana fell in double overtime to Michigan State Sunday and Northwestern dropped an overtime decision to Wisconsin Saturday.
