Penn State salvages tie with Northwestern

Lions' late goal forces overtime

Steve Richards

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State’s Corey Hertzog used some late penalty kick magic to get the Nittany Lions a 1-1 draw with No. 21 Northwestern in a Big Ten battle at Jeffrey Field on Sunday.

CDT/Michelle Bixby

Penn State's Drew Cost (8) approaches Northwestern's Jack Hillgard (11) during the Northwestern at Penn State men's soccer game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. CDT/Michelle Bixby

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The equalizer from Hertzog came thanks to a handball in the box from a Northwestern defender with just 39 seconds left in regulation. Hertzog buried his sixth goal of the year on the ensuing penalty kick in the bottom left corner past Northwestern goalie Misha Rosenthal, who recorded nine saves.

The contest remained scoreless for most of two halves before Northwestern (6-1-4 overall, 1-0-1 Big Ten) broke through at the 84:52 mark. Eamon O’Neill benefited from a Peter O’Neill cross and netted his second goal of the year by beating Penn State goalie Warren Gross to the top right corner.

The goal broke a 378 minute shutout streak by Gross, who had the 12th best goals against average in the country (.485) coming into the match.

Penn State, (7-3-2, 2-0-1), which extended its unbeaten streak to five with the tie, dominated the first half in both possession and scoring chances.

The first big chance for the unranked Nittany Lions came at with 14 minutes left in the half off a free kick. Midfielder Matheus Braga sent in a bending shot past Rosenthal, only to watch it hit the left post and ricochet out of bounds.

Nittany Lion captain Jason Yeisley also had a good scoring opportunity with with 1:15 left in the half. He benefited from a Northwestern defensive giveaway and deked around Rosenthal, but defender Cody Stanley kicked his shot away.

Penn State had 12 first half shots, and ended up out shooting the Wildcats 28-16 in the game.

“They weren’t going in for us today.” said Gross, “That’s part of the game, and we showed a lot of heart coming back the way we did.”

The first real scoring chance for Northwestern didn’t come until the 70th minute on free kick after a foul call on Penn State. Wilcat defender Mark Blades fired a shot on net and Kevin Velenta tried to bury the rebound, but Gross turned away both shots, suffering a dislocated finger in the process. He stayed in the game, finishing with seven saves.

Each team had a good chance in overtime, Penn State’s coming first in the 99th minute. Braga, persistent in the offensive zone all day, beat the Wildcat defense and fired two consecutive shots that Rosenthal turned away.

The Northwestern chance came at 103:23, again off the foot of Eamon O’Neill.

Penn State Coach Barry Gorman was pleased with result, saying his team “showed a lot of depth and character playing without two regular starters.”

Defender Mark Fetrow and midfielder Frank Castigliola were serving suspensions. Freshman Brian Forgue made his first career start to replace Fetrow, while sophomore Matt Smallwood filled in for Castigliola.

The Nittany Lions also had two other starters, Hertzog and defender Justin Lee, battling with cramps late in the second half and overtime.

Penn State outshot Northwestern 7-2 in the extra period.

The Nittany Lions next host Lafayette on Wednesday at 7 p.m.