McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer team (1-2, 0-0) picked up their first win of the season last time out defeating Westmoreland County CC 3-0. They look to ride that momentum into their Penn State University Athletic Conference opener on Friday afternoon when they face Penn State Hazleton (0-1-1, 0-0) at 12:45 p.m.
PSUGA saw its offense, that had been non-existent in the first two games of the season, find its groove shooting the ball 19 times, with 11 of those landing on goal. It was senior team captain Dario Marina (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) who got the scoring started after taking advantage of a Hazleton foul. He lined up for the ensuing Penalty Kick and drilled it to give PSUGA a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
Freshman Kevin Kirby (Atlanta, GA./Mountain View HS) would add on for PSUGA with his first career goal taking a pass from Dharma Kharel (White Hall, PA./Brashear HS) and finding the back of the net to give PSUGA a 2-0 lead. They would take that score into halftime and added one more as Namy Makiese (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS) scored to give PSUGA the 3-0 lead that they would hold onto for the win. Junior Colin Bucsok (Pittsburgh, PA./Thomas Jefferson HS) picked up his first shutout of the season making eight saves in the win.
After two tough losses to start the season, Monday provided a big pick me up and got PSUGA heading back in the right direction for their conference opener on Friday. PSUGA has picked up a win in its conference opener in each of the last two seasons and looks to continue that trend for the 2019 season.
However, they are taking on a team in Penn State Hazleton that has been a thorn in their side over the last several seasons. Hazleton is coming off of a 0-0 tie on Monday when they took on Pratt College. Hazleton outshot its opponents 16-11 and had seven of their 16 shots go on goal, but they were unable to find the net resulting in the tie. Hazleton goalkeeper Jacob Pryma made four saves on four shots playing the full ninety minutes in net.
Previous Match-ups
PSUGA has struggled in previous match-ups against PSU-Hazleton going 1-4-2 in the seven previous meetings between the two teams. Last season, Hazleton handed PSUGA a costly 3-3 tie that effected their chances of grabbing a higher seed in the PSUAC playoff picture and ultimately altered their season. Former Lions Raghu Chimoriya, Belmo Nurkic, and Nic Babic scored the three goals for PSUGA, but a late comeback from Hazleton ended the contest in a 3-3 tie.
Kick-off for Friday’s conference opener is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. at Breisinger Field located at 410 E Bruceton Rd. in Pleasant Hills, PA.
