Baltimore- Penn State freshman forward Hasani Sinclair scored in
the 71st minute and the visiting Nittany Lions
halted UMBC's five-game unbeaten streak with a 1-0 victory on
rain-soaked turf of UMBC Stadium.
Playing its final non-conference game of the season, UMBC
dropped to 7-4-3 on the campaign, while Penn State snapped a
three-game slide and improved to 7-6-2.
The game was moved from the grass of Retriever Soccer Park due
to more rain which pelted the area all day. Much of the first half
was played in steady showers, although it subsided to a mist for
the final 45 minutes.
The Retrievers struggled all evening to mount any offense
against the stubborn Nittany Lions, who have yielded only nine
goals in 15 games. UMBC managed only three shots and PSU
freshman netminder Andrew Wolverton did not record a save.
On the other side, UMBC senior goalkeeper Dan
Louisignau (Wilmington, Del.) was outstanding, coming up
with eight saves against 16 shots. He kept Penn State off the board
in the first half with three stops as he continued his dominance in
the first 45 minutes. The Retrievers have only allowed one goal in
the first half in 2011.
The visitors continued to apply the pressure in the second half
and Louisignau made the save of the night in the
56th minute, denying junior midfielder Julian
Cardona on a semi-breakway from 12 yards away.
But Penn State would get the game's lone goal on their ninth
corner kick of the contest. The Retrievers initially cleared John
Gallagher's corner, but junior midfielder Jacob Barron played the
ball back into the six-yard area, where Sinclair got past the UMBC
backline and headed the ball past Louisignau and into the net.
The goal halted UMBC's streak at 478 minutes without allowing a
goal and was the Lions' first score in nearly 380 minutes of
action.
The Retrievers have rallied for two wins and a draw when
conceding the game's first goal, but a 27-yard blocked attempt
by Andrew
Bulls (McDonogh) in the 83rd minute was
the Retrievers' lone second half reply.
UMBC played the contest without central defender Daniel Welsh
(Fife, Scotland) who sat out after picking up his fifth yellow card
of the season in the Oct. 14 victory over UNH.
The Retrievers will try to improve on a 4-0-0 America East
Conference mark when they travel to Hartford for a match on
Saturday, Oct. 22.
