GA Men's Soccer Overpowers New Kensington in a 7-5 Decision

White Oak, Pa. - After going down two goals within the initial three minutes, the Penn State Greater Allegheny men's soccer team overturned Penn State New Kensington, Thursday evening, in a 7-5 Penn State University Athletic Conference match-up.

Within the first two minutes, New Kensington completed two headers into the back of the mesh, putting GA down quickly, 2-0. In the 12th minute, sophomore forward Manoj Sharma (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) shot a ball from the right of the goal as the keeper came off his line, pushing it past him and slicing the deficit in half, 2-1.

34 seconds later, freshman midfielder Marin Marina (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) received a ball from Sharma from the left side of the net, as he trapped it around the six yard line and slammed the ball into the mesh, evening the mark at two.

Freshman outside midfielder Bimal Bhattarai (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) lofted a ball to Sharma before the 14th minute, as Sharma controlled the trap in front of the net and placed the ball in the left corner of the net, moving Greater Allegheny ahead, 3-2.

In the 19th minute, sophomore midfielder Bengaly Diane (New Jersey/James J. Ferris) stopped a pass from Sharma on the six yard line, firing the ball through the goalies hands. Greater Allegheny now sat atop New Kensington, 4-2.

The next tally came from New Kensington in the 30th minute, as a ball from the far right narrowly missed freshman goalkeeper Alex Wood's (Rochville, Md./St. John's College) hands. 

Marina advanced Greater Allegheny 5-3 when New Kensington's goalkeeper failed to keep his hands on the ball after a hard GA shot. Marina took advantage of the situation and nailed the back of the goal.

With three minutes left to play before half, New Kensington obtained a penalty kick against Greater Allegheny, achieving that and closing the gap to just 5-4.

New Kensington evened the mark at five within the first minute of the second half, leaving the game in a deadlock. 

After a Marina corner kick, sophomore midfielder Gerardo Diaz (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico/Immaculate Concepcion Academy) got a touch on the ball before Diane cleaned up the ball past the goalies hands, regaining the lead at 6-5.

The final tally of the game came off the foot of Diane, as Marina completed a perfect pass to the sophomore, dashing it into the net and capping off the scoring tally for the game.

Wood faced 12 shots on goal through the 90 minutes, saving seven. The Greater Allegheny offense peppered New Kensington with 18 shots, 14 of them being on goal.

Diane, Marina and Sharma completed the game with six points apiece, paving the way for the Greater Allegheny PSUAC victory. 

Greater Allegheny (4-7-2, 3-3-2 PSUAC) looks onward to Monday, as they travel to Westmoreland County Community College for a non-conference match-up. Game time is set for 4 p.m.