UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's soccer team (3-1-1) ended Villanova's (4-1-0) bid for a perfect season, shutting out the Wildcats, 1-0, Friday night at Jeffrey Field.
"Tonight I can only congratulate our team for what I think is our best performance of the season," said head coach Jeff Cook. "The play we had at times was what we were hoping to strive for, hoping to achieve here. We played at really good speed. We had possession, we were determined defensively, and maybe with the exception of a couple moments, we controlled Villanova's very dangerous attack very effectively. So I'm very proud of the team – it was a really hard-fought game and I'm delighted with a 1-0 victory."
From the get-go, Penn State dominated possession over the receiving-votes team from outside Philadelphia.
Senior Christian Sload fired off three shots within the first 10 minutes, however all of them were off target.
Sload was then able to dribble the ball into the left corner of the box before passing it out to sophomore transfer Seth Kuhn who took one step and with the hard strike sailed it over Wildcat goalkeeper Carson Williams for the 1-0 Nittany Lion lead.
Here's Seth Kuhn's first goal as a Nittany Lion! pic.twitter.com/vB3frwn7uo
— Penn State Men's Soccer (@PennStateMSOC) September 13, 2019
That is the first goal Williams and Villanova have conceded in 2019.
Freshman goalkeeper Kris Shakes had two big saves for the Nittany Lions in the first half as both Theo Quarterly and Lyam MacKinnon had good looks at the net for the Wildcats.
At the end of the first half, Penn State outshot Villanova, 8-2.
The Nittany Lions came out of the break still swinging, with five shots in the opening 10 minutes, including a near-goal by Kuhn that was blocked out front.
In the 69th minute, freshman defender Jalen Watson nearly had his first career goal out of a corner kick, but Williams made an incredible save to keep his team within distance.
Penn State held on for the remainder of the game for the second-straight shutout win. The Nittany Lions finished with 17 shots compared to Villanova's four, while earning 12 corner kicks to the Wildcats' two. Shakes finished with three saves.
The Nittany Lions open Big Ten conference play next week when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.
Game Notes:
- Penn State is now 9-2-1 all-time against Villanova.
- The Nittany Lions have never lost (7-0-0) to the Wildcats at Jeffrey Field.
- Seth Kuhn scored his first collegiate goal and now has points in consecutive games for the second time in his career (last: 8/24-26/18 at Duke).
- With the assist on Kuhn's goal, Christian Sload has recorded points in four-straight games and is tied for a team high in points (6) with classmate Aaron Molloy.
- The Penn State defense and freshman goalkeeper have two consecutive clean sheets in three victories this season.
- Penn State is 3-1-1 to start 2019, marking the best start since the 2015 season.
- The Nittany Lions are now 1-1-1 with ranked or receiving-votes teams this season.