Soccer Trying to Continue Historic Season vs. PSU-New Kensington
McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer Team (4-1, 3-0) looks to continue their historic season on Thursday Septmeber 28th when they go on the road to take on Penn State University Athletic Conference foe Penn State New Kensington (3-2-1, 2-2-1).
PSUGA Soccer has already made history this season going 3-0 to start conference play for the first time in program history. They have won their last four games after dropping their season opener to Mount Aloysius 6-2 and are looking to make it five in a row when they take on PSU-New Kensington.
PSUGA picked up their fourth straight victory on Sunday when they defeated Penn State Schuylkill by the score of 3-1. After going down 1-0 17 minutes into the contest, Allan Conteh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) quickly tied things up just eight minutes later with his second goal of the season. Jake Theiret (Port Vue, Pa./South Allegheny) and Belmo Nurkic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) would put the game away with a goal and a penalty kick to put the game out of reach and give PSUGA the 3-1 victory.
Defense ruled the second half as the PSUGA soccer team was able to limit PSU-Schuylkill’s offensive opportunities thanks to great play from Leela Nepal (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) and Nick Andrews (Penn Hills, Pa./Serra Catholic).
PSUGA Soccer is trying to make their fourth straight trip to the PSUAC playoffs and they are just two wins away from clinching a playoff spot. Head Coach Dale Odim is very pleased with the way his team has been performing early on in the season and was especially happy with the performance on Sunday.
“[We had an] excellent math against Schuylkill,” said Odim. “We are now 3-0 in conference play and our defense continues to play very well. We still have not conceded a goal from free kicks or corner kicks.”
PSU-New Kensington comes into this game on the opposite end of the spectrum having lost their last two contests to Penn State Hazleton and Penn State Brandywine. Their last time out, they fell to PSU-Hazleton 2-1 to fall to 2-2-1 in PSUAC Conference Play. PSU-New Kensington couldn’t get on the board until the 79th minute as Moussa Diouf scored to make it a 2-1 game that would stand as the final score.
PSU-New Kensington has the all-time season series lead going 3-1 against PSUGA since the 2013/14 season. The last time these two teams met was last year in the first round of the PSUAC playoffs when New Kensington scored a 4-2 victory ending PSUGA’s season.
PSUGA will look to avenge last year’s loss and continue their current four game winning streak Thursday at 4 p.m. It will be their fifth road contest of the season where they are currently 3-1 on the season.