Men’s Soccer Battles Back with Second-Half Goals to Defeat St. John’s, 2-1 – Penn State

QUEENS, N.Y. – Penn State men’s soccer utilized a pair of second-half goals to earn a 2-1 victory on the road against St. John’s in their final nonconference match of the season at Belson Stadium Tuesday evening.

FIRST HALF

For the first 10 minutes of the match, possession was kept at midfield by both teams. At the 11th minute, St. John’s made an offensive push and the Red Storm’s Jackson Gould made a cross into the box which goalkeeper Fredrick Grundin quickly collected in the air.

Grundin made another clutch save when Martan Kozak beat the Nittany Lion backline to launch a shot. The redshirt-freshman keeper extended to make the save to keep the match level at zero.

St. John’s got on the board first in the 21st minute after a Miguel Diaz cross in the box and Tyler Morock ripped a shot past Grundin.

The Red Storm controlled possession for the majority of the first half, having the 7-0 advantage in shots.

SECOND HALF

Penn State finally got their first shot of the night from Caden Grabfelder in the 57th minute. Freshman midfielder Malick Daouda followed up a shot a minute later.

The Red Storm continued to control possession until the 75^th minute when the Nittany Lions were awarded a corner kick. Captain Matthew Henderson took the corner the ball bent into the back of the net to level the match at 1-1.

Five minutes later Henderson made a quick pass in the box to Michael Hewes who knocked the shot past the St. John’s keeper for the match winning goal.

MATCH NOTES

• Fredrick Grundin, Chase Oliver and Michael Hewes made their return to the starting lineup.
• The Red Storm held the 15-5 advantage on shots and the 4-1 edge on corner kicks.
• Grundin registered three saves in the 90 minutes. The redshirt freshman remains undefeated between the posts this season.
• Henderson now leads the Nittany Lions with eight points coming from three goals and two assists.
• Penn State is now 4-5-0 overall and St. John’s falls to 2-4-3.

UP NEXT

Penn State will continue their road trip next week when they face Big Ten opponent No. 19 Maryland at 6 p.m. (ET) on Big Ten Network.