Youngwood, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer Team (6-3-2, 3-2-2) scored nine goals by seven different players in their 9-0 victory over Westmoreland County CC (0-11, 0-1) on Tuesday night. The team took 47 shots total and had many good opportunities to score throughout the night.
PSUGA got on the board in the 6th minute when Nic Babic (White Hall, PA./Baldwin HS) scored the first of two goals on the day to make it a 1-0 PSUGA lead. Belmo Nurkic (Baldwin, PA./Baldwin HS) , who made his first collegiate start as a goalkeeper, came out of net to attempt a penalty kick thirteen minutes later and put it through the lower left corner to extend the PSUGA lead to 2-0.
PSUGA would add two goals back-to-back in the 38th and 39th minutes when Yam Bista (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) and Leela Nepal (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS), who netted the first goal of his career, found the net to extend the lead to 4-0. They would add two more goals before the half and went into the break leading 6-0.
The second half saw PSUGA score three more goals including the second goal of the day for Babic. Namy Makiese (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) and Yousef Ibrahim (Abu Dhabi/American Community School of Abu Dhabi) rounded out the scoring in the second half and gave PSUGA a 9-0 win, their sixth this season.
Babic led the team with two goals on nine shots, four on goal, and Prajal Sharma (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) and Bista finished behind him with one goal a piece. Both players finished with six shots, three on goal. In total, seven different players scored at least one goal for PSUGA and the team fell one shot shy of tying the record for shots taken in a game as a team finishing with 48 shots, 25 on goal.
Nurkic picked up his first collegiate win and shut out in net making three saves on three shots on goal over his 90 minutes played. It was Nurkic’s third appearance in net this season and he now has 20 saves this season.
The win gives PSUGA some momentum as they head into their two big games this week as they fight for a Penn State University Athletic Conference playoff spot. Their first major contest comes on Saturday when they face PSU-Beaver at 4 p.m. In order to clinch a playoff spot, PSUGA needs to win one of their remaining PSUAC games or have PSU-York lose or have PSU-Wilkes Barre lose. The best the team can finish is as the number four seed with the top three seeds in the conference already being secured.
Kickoff for Saturday’s game against PSU-Beaver is scheduled for 4 p.m. at New Brighton High School.