Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507572
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I n the 88th minute of a scoreless game against No. 1 Syracuse, Penn State freshman midfielder Caden Grab- felder leaped above a defender and headed the ball past Orange goalkeeper Jahiem Wickham into the upper left corner of the net. It was a euphoric moment for the Nit- tany Lion men's soccer team, and also for the 2,684 fans who had packed Jef- frey Field's bleachers to see Penn State take on the defending NCAA champions on Sept. 1. But the thrill lasted just 6 seconds. That's all the time Syracuse needed to score the equalizer. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, Penn State's second deadlock of the year against a top-five opponent. As was the case after they tied No. 5 Pitt a week earlier by an identical score, coach Jeff Cook and his players were left to wonder what might have been. And yet, that disappointment didn't linger long. Cook's directive after the game was for PSU to treat the missed opportunity as a steppingstone rather than a setback. "This will be an incredible learning experience," he said. "We are gutted to not hold onto the victory after scor- ing so late in the match, but I think it's something that we can improve on in the future and turn these close ties against very high-level opponents into victories." Penn State showed its resilience with a 2-0 shutout of St. John's three days later. Heading into the start of Big Ten play Sept. 15 at Ohio State, the Lions were 2-1-2 overall and had vaulted to 14th in the United Soccer Coaches As- sociation poll after opening the season unranked. This year's team returns several key fifth-year seniors, a list headlined by forward Liam Butts, defender Alex Ste- venson and goalkeeper Kris Shakes. Butts totaled 22 goals and 50 points in his first four seasons, and Cook said his return would allow the Lawrenceville, Ga., native to "establish himself as one of the truly great strikers to ever play for Penn State." Stevenson was one of the team's most experienced players heading into the 2023 season, with 52 starts in 62 games. He's off to a hot start in his final college campaign, winning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring one of PSU's 2 goals against St. John's and assisting on Grabfelder's goal ver- sus Syracuse. Shakes, meanwhile, posted 16 career shutouts and a .765 save percentage in three previous seasons as Penn State's starting goalkeeper, and the first few weeks of the 2023 campaign only bur- nished his sterling credentials. He won the league's Defensive Player of the Week honor after making 5 saves against the Orange, the second time this year that he was saluted by the conference. The Lions have also gotten a lift from younger players such as Grabfelder, a Northampton, Pa., native who had played for FC Delco in the 2022 MLS Next Playoffs. Grabfelder's goal against the Orange was his second in as many games, coming just five days after he scored his first collegiate goal in a 4-0 shutout of Le Moyne. OLYMPIC SPORTS Freshman midfielder Caden Grabfelder (right) scored his first collegiate goal in Penn State's 4-0 win over Le Moyne, and he followed with a goal against No. 1 Syracuse on Sept. 1. Grabfelder and senior forward Liam Butts (left) have helped lift PSU to the No. 14 spot in the USCA poll. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS SQUAD GOALS The Penn State men's and women's soccer teams are both off to encouraging starts M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M