Soccer’s Historic Season Comes to an End in Loss to Hazleton

McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer team (9-4, 7-4) had their historic season come to an end on Saturday as they fell to Penn State Hazleton in the Semifinal Round of the Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs by the score of 4-1. It was a tight nit contest until the final minutes of play when Hazleton was able to pull away and take the victory.

The game was scoreless for the first 35 minutes of play as the two teams battled back and forth. However, it would be Hazleton that took the lead in that 35^th minute as Soahil Ahmedshaker made it 1-0. PSUGA would respond just two minutes later as freshman Allan Conteh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) scored to tie the game at one. Hazleton would strike one more time before the half as their leading scorer Moussa Diouf put in his fourth goal of the playoffs to give Hazleton a 2-1 lead going to the half time break.

PSUGA just could not get the offense going in the second half, however, as the ball spent a lot of time in the Hazleton offensive zone. It remained 2-1 all the way to the 85^th minute when Ahmedshaker scored his second goal of the day to make it 3-1. Hazleton would quickly strike again in the 86^th minute to officially put the nail in the coffin as Jason Klusewitz scored to make it 4-1.

Conditions were not in either team’s favor as the wind was hallowing and a steady rain fell throughout the game causing the playing surface to be less than ideal. However, both teams played through it and it was still a great match-up worthy of the playoff implications surrounding it.

For PSUGA it was a historic 2017/18 season as they set new program records in wins (9) and conference wins (7). They were also able to get off to their best start ever in conference play at 5-0. Marin Marina (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) and Belmo Nurkic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) each had some of their best years of soccer leading the team with 11 goals apiece during the regular season. Nick Andrews (Penn Hills, Pa./Serra Catholic) not only led PSUGA with his nine assists on the year but lead the entire PSUAC as well in that category.

PSUGA soccer also made their fourth straight appearance in the PSUAC playoffs this season. They made it to the semifinal round for the second time in three seasons with the last time being in the 2015/16 season when they made it to the PSUAC championships.

While the historic season has come to an end for PSUGA soccer it has been a fun ride. We wish the best of luck to all of the seniors and 2+2 players and thank you for a great season of PSUGA Soccer!