McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer team (1-2-1, 0-0-1) returns to Penn State University Athletic Conference action after a week of rest when they go on the road to take on Penn State Lehigh Valley (2-3, 1-0) as the first part of a weekend trip on Saturday at 5 p.m. After picking up a tie in their conference opener, PSUGA is looking to get in the win column as they chase down their sixth straight PSUAC playoff berth.
PSUGA last took the field on September 13th when they hosted Penn State Hazleton in their PSUAC opener finishing two overtimes with a 2-2 tie. PSUGA showed resilience to be able to fight back after trailing 2-0 at halftime to even the score. Senior captain Dario Marina (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) found the net just ten minutes into the second half and Namy Makiese (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS) tied the game in the 64th minute with his second goal of the season.
After allowing two early goals, PSUGA’s defense was on lockdown the rest of the game, not allowing a goal over the final 80 minutes of play. Junior goalkeeper Colin Bucsok (Pittsburgh, PA./Thomas Jefferson HS) made five saves on seven shots on goal picking up the third tie of his career.
With the tie, PSUGA now sits in sixth place in the PSUAC standings sitting just one game behind the top spot in the division. Last season, PSUGA claimed the number four seed in the PSUAC playoffs and hosted in the PSUAC semifinal round. This season, they are trying to secure the first-round bye and get back to the PSUAC Semifinal game for the third straight year. Head Coach Dale Odim has a goal of making it to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National tournament and the road starts now for his team.
To start that journey, they will take on a PSU-Lehigh Valley team that has had a great deal of success as of late. They have won two out of their last three games but fell to Manor College last time out 5-1. Lehigh Valley would get the lead early in the game when Justin Evans found the net, but it was all Manor college after that scoring five unanswered goals to pick up the win.
Previous Match-ups
Saturday, will mark the first-ever match-up between PSUGA and PSU-Lehigh Valley. PSUGA enters Saturday’s game with an all-time record of 27-29-7 against PSUAC opponents and a 39-40-8 record in the regular season. PSUGA will look to get back to .500 in PSUAC play with two key match-ups this weekend.
Kick-off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Cedar Crest College’s turf field located at 100 College Drive, Allentown, PA.
