IU 3, Penn State 2: Men's soccer upsets No. 2 Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- On paper, the IU men's soccer team wasn't supposed to defeat the No. 2 team in the country Friday night. But in a time of seemingly bad luck, IU halted its season-long offensive woes, defensive inconsistency and received solid play from junior goalkeeper Colin Rogers in a 3-2 upset against Penn State.\nThe Nittany Lions were celebrating 90 years of varsity soccer in front of 3,263 fans, and the Hoosiers entered the game without having scored a goal in a first half all season. IU was also without its National Player of the Year candidate, goalkeeper T.J. Hannig, who will be out three weeks with a knee injury.\nThe No. 11 Hoosiers (7-3, 2-0 in Big Ten play) overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to extend their Big Ten winning streak to 34 games and win their eighth consecutive game against the Nittany Lions (7-2).\nSophomore midfielder Pat Noonan made several runs through the Penn State defense throughout the game, before finally darting past two defenders to fire the game-winner into the low, far corner of the net with seven minutes left in the game.\n"I think we're one of the best teams, and I think Penn State is definitely one of the better teams," Noonan said. "Coming in -- especially on their field -- and coming out with a victory -- especially being down 2-1 -- it shows a lot for us."\nPenn State scored first off of a slow bouncer by sophomore forward Brett Forbrich in the 20th minute of the game. \nJunior midfielder Ryan Mack evened the score at 1-1 about eight minutes later, as he unleashed a shot about 30 yards in front of the Nittany Lions' goal. The ball flew about six feet above the ground and rolled off the fingertips of Penn State sophomore keeper Ryan Sickman and into the back of the net. Senior defensive midfielder Justin Tauber assisted on the goal.\nThe goal, IU's only first-half goal of the season, caused the team to have a mini-celebration at halftime, coach Jerry Yeagley said. The team entered halftime knowing it had kept up with a physical, veteran Penn State squad, Noonan said.\n"We felt really confident at halftime," he said. "We felt we played well in the first half. In my opinion, I felt we outplayed them. We had a lot of chances we just didn't connect. They're a good team, and we knew what we were in for."\nAbout 14 minutes into the second half, the Nittany Lions broke open the 1-1 tie as junior defender Chris Stout scored off of a corner kick. \nWith about 27 minutes left in the game, Noonan outraced Penn State defenders and sent a pass to his far right for senior forward Matt Fundenberger. The ball was taken in stride by Fundenberger, who then tapped it into the goal to make the score 2-2.\nThe win marked the first time the Hoosiers have scored three goals in a game since the NCAA-semifinal win against UCLA last season. \nYeagley said the season's highest-scoring game was helped by Noonan's move to forward, rather than playing his usual attacking midfielder position. The move allowed Mack to play from the midfield. Noonan's winning goal is his fourth goal of the season.\n"Our offense was the winner (Friday night)," Yeagley said. "We felt we had to keep them, with the way we had been scoring, to one goal. And we gave up two and we still found a way to win. Maybe this second half of the season, our defense will pick up a little of the slack."\nPenn State played without All-American midfielder Ricardo Villar, who has a deep bone bruise in his ankle. The Hoosiers were able to dominate the midfield during the game.\n"I certainly missed Villar and his creativity, and I'm sorry he's not playing," Yeagley said. "I feel bad for him and for Penn State because he's a marquee player. He's the kind of player the game needs. I hope he gets better, and I hope he gets back playing because he's one of the finest players in the country."\nThe win moves IU a step closer to earning the first-round bye for the Big Ten tournament Nov. 10 -12 in Columbus, Ohio. The team with the best conference record receives the bye. The Hoosiers earned the bye last season before winning the tournament.\nIU has dominated the all-time series against Penn State, 19-5-2.\n"I don't know if it's they just can't beat us," Noonan said. "They've had great teams in the past years, and they've been dogfights, and I guess things bounce … our way."\nThe Hoosiers are now 2-2 against top-10 teams, as ranked last week by collegesoccer.com. The Penn State win comes three weeks after IU knocked off former No. 1 Virginia in College Park, Md.\nWhile members of the Penn State men's soccer team grabbed their bags and exited Jeffrey Field just moments after they lost, the Hoosiers remained on the grass to take their time packing their belongings and savoring their upset.\n"It's great, amazing," Mack said. "Since last year, they came out pretty strong and fought hard, and we matched their intensity and came out with the win"