Bucknell University
Penn State
Bucknell Men's Soccer Plays Penn State to Scoreless Draw
10/26/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 26, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Senior goalkeeper Marc Hartmann (Bradenton, Fla./St. Stephen's), making his third start of the season, logged all four of his saves in the second half in overtime to help the Bucknell men's soccer team to a scoreless draw with Penn State on Wednesday night at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. It was a stout defensive effort all around for the Bison, who outshot Penn State 14-12 on the night and had some good scoring chances during regulation time.
Sporting nearly identical records -- Bucknell is now 7-7-2 and Penn State 7-7-3 -- these two teams played yet another tight match. Even though the Nittany Lions hold a 58-8-4 lead in a series that dates back to 1930, the Bison are now 2-1-1 in the last four meetings, with the three non-ties all decided by one goal.
Bucknell did not concede a shot on frame until the 65th minute of the game. The Bison outshot Penn State 7-3 in the first half, and while all three of the Nittany Lions' attempts were blocked by the defense, Bucknell generated a handful of good looks.
The first scoring chance of the night came from Brendan Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J./Pingry School), who cut back to the middle and unleashed a hard shot from 20 yards out that sailed over the crossbar. Luke Joyner (Dallas, Texas/J.J. Pearce) missed just high from distance a little over a minute later.
The first save of the night came from Penn State's Andrew Wolverton in the 19th minute. He turned aside a Josh Plump (Millburn, N.J./Millburn) shot from the right side of the box but could not control the rebound. CK Kumah (Accra, Ghana/Hotchkiss School) sent a volley wide of the mark, however. It was Kumah again with 4:15 left in the first half streaking down the left flank, but Wolverton saved Kumah's hard strike at the near post.
With just 2:24 left in the half, Wolverton made a diving stop on fullback Collin Costello (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom), who had stolen the ball at midfield and gotten a good shot off after a give-and-go with Burgdorf.
It was more of the same to start the second half, as just 55 seconds in Plump took a low skimmer from the top of the box that required a diving save from Wolverton to his left. Soon after, Plump made a nice run down the left side and crossed the ball to Joyner in front, but his redirect was deflected by a defender before it could get to Wolverton.
Penn State got more dangerous later in the second half. After a scramble in the box, Hartmann slapped away a cross in tight space that appeared to be headed toward the foot of an open Penn State player in the goal mouth, and Bucknell was able to clear. About six minutes later, Hartmann made his first save of the night on a low shot by Hasani Sinclair.
With 24 minutes left in regulation Bucknell's Andrew Powell (Charlton, Mass./St. John's) missed the left post by inches on a low strike from 28 yards out that had beaten the keeper.
Bucknell breathed a huge sigh of relief with just 90 seconds left in regulation when the Nittany Lions had a goal waved off on an offsides call. Jordan Tyler's shot from the right side of the area was saved by Hartmann, and Sinclair punched in the rebound but from an offsides position.
Hartmann had to make a tricky save on a short hop on a shot from Mackenzie Arment with 2:15 left in the first overtime period, and Hartmann broke up a potentially dangerous situation with a punch-out on a corner kick in the second OT session, but other than those two plays neither team was able to get much going in the extra time.
Wolverton finished with five saves and Hartmann four. Wolverton's clean sheet was his 10th of the year, tying the Penn State single-season record. Hartmann's shutout was his first, and it was the sixth of the year for the Bison.
Bucknell next travels to Hamiliton, N.Y., to face Colgate in a critical Patriot League match on Saturday at 4 p.m. At 2-3-0 in the Patriot League, the Bison must win (or tie and get major help) to stay alive in the race for a postseason berth.
