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P enn State has been nationally com- petitive in a variety of sports throughout its history, from football to wrestling to volleyball. So when Jeff Cook took over the men's soccer program in January 2018 after four years with the Philadelphia Union Academy and Bethle- hem Steel FC, he had no reservations about the school's potential to build a nationally com- petitive program in his sport, too. "As you look around at our sports programs for women and men – team sports, individual sports, in all different shapes, sizes and competitive arenas – Penn State succeeds at an elite level," Cook said. "And I believe with every grain of my body that we can do the same in men's soccer." Cook took over a Penn State program that hadn't been to the NCAA tourna- ment since 2014. The Nittany Lions opened the 2018 season with losses in five of their first eight games, but after tying Northwestern in double overtime in early October, they won four of their final six and went into the off-season with a bit of momentum. A lot has changed since then. Thirteen of the 25 players on this year's team are new to the program, and nine of those newcomers are true freshmen, members of a recruiting class that earned top-10 notice from Top Drawer Soccer after the early signing period. But the momentum that Penn State started to build toward the end of Cook's first season has not abated. After a 2-1 road victory over Wisconsin on Oct. 19, the Nittany Lions were 8-2-2 and 4-1-1 in Big Ten play. They were fielding one of the league's top offenses, ranking second in points (60) and assists (18) and first in goals (21). Going into the season, it hadn't been entirely clear where the goals were going to come from. Penn State suffered a cou- ple of setbacks in August when Ethan Beckford and Jeremy Rafanello an- nounced that they were forgoing their re- maining college eligibility in order to pursue pro careers in Europe. Beckford and Rafanello had made the Big Ten All- Freshman team in 2017 and '18, respec- tively, but because the latter had only played one college season, his decision caught Cook off-guard. Even so, as preseason practice contin- ued, the second-year coach was feeling confident in his team's potential to gen- erate offense. "It's 25 student-athletes, it's 25 team members," he told his players. "We're going to do it together, with and without the ball." That confidence has since proven to be well-founded, and the freshmen have played a big part in Penn State's surge. Through 12 games, one of the Nittany Lions' leading goal-scorers was Liam Butts, a forward from Lawrenceville, Ga., who had spent the previous three seasons with Atlanta United FC in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Butts was tied for the team lead with six goals, and that total included four game-winners, the most in the Big Ten. Another freshman, midfielder Andrew Privett of Fallston, Md., was fourth on the team with five points on two goals and an assist, while Kris Shakes of Sunrise, Fla., had made five starts in goal, all of them wins. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions were also getting strong performances from upper- classmen such as Aaron Molloy (six goals, two assists) and Christian Sload (two goals, four assists). The Lions' success this fall is part of an upward trend that Cook is hoping will ex- tend into the seasons to come. "We're in this for the long haul," he said. "We want to be playing important games in November and on into the NCAA tour- nament. That's our goal, and we're going to do everything possible to take care of all these details. The relationships, the cul- ture of the team, how we carry ourselves on and off the field – I think that drives winning, I really do. I don't think you can say, we're going to be great on game day, but we're not going to practice well. I don't think you can be great in training if behind the scenes, maybe your academic life is a little chaotic and you're not taking care of the details there. So I think it's all connected. And that chemistry – we're off to a really good start." ■ BUTTS WOMEN'S SOCCER PSU's Dambach earns milestone victory Kerry Abello's goal in the 63rd minute gave Penn State a 1-0 win over Indiana on Oct. 10 in Bloom- ington. The victory marked the 250th career win for head coach Erica Dambach. Dambach is in her 13th season at Penn State, where she has guided the Nittany Lions to 10 Big Ten reg- ular-season championships, 12 NCAA tournament appearances and a national championship in 2015. The victory over Indiana was her 210th with the Lions. Dambach's previous collegiate head coaching job was at Dartmouth. She coached the Big Green from 2000-2002, guiding them to two Ivy League ti- tles and three NCAA tournament appearances. ■ ALIVE AND KICKING The Nittany Lion men's soccer team has been surging under second-year coach Je Cook | VARSITY VIEWS

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