ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 15 UCF men's soccer team tied the Penn State Nittany Lions by a score of 2-2 on Friday night to move the Black and Gold's record on the season to 1-1-1.
"I thought we started the game well and played that first 20 minutes or so in their half, got a goal early," said UCF head coach Scott Calabrese, "Kind of from that point on, we maybe weren't as sharp after that goal. We conceded some space to them and kind of ended up playing in our half. Penn State was very well organized, played very well on the counterattack and that made for a difficult game."
The action started early with a Cal Jennings goal in the 15th minute off a quick feed from Hattabiou Barry. The feed came from the left wing and was perfectly slotted into the box for Jennings to punch it home.
16' | GOAL! Cal nets one early on to give us a 1-0 edge! #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/ZkRiC9sZFt
— UCF Men's Soccer (@UCF_MSoccer) September 6, 2019
Penn State struck back in the 31st minute with a goal of their own on a penalty kick from the foot of Aaron Molloy after a hard foul near the box.
The score only remained tied at 1-1 for a bit as Jennings netted his second of the night for UCF. He was in perfect position to take off and run on an errant pass from a Penn State defender roughly 30 yards out. After Jennings possessed the ball, he was all by himself with just the goalkeeper to beat. There was a defender in Jennings' hip pocket which forced him out wide to the right post, where he ripped a shot and glanced the ball off the top of the goalkeeper's hands and into the top shelf to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.
42' | GOAL! Cal turns on the jets and converts on the breakaway! His second of the match as we lead 2-1! #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/wJjMhat1AU
— UCF Men's Soccer (@UCF_MSoccer) September 6, 2019
UCF took their first halftime lead of the season into the locker room hoping to come away with their first home win of the season. Penn State had other ideas as they scored a goal from beyond 30 yards on a perfectly placed shot over the head of UCF goalkeeper Yannik Oettl.
From there, the scoresheet remained empty, although UCF tried their hardest to crack the tie late in the match. The Knights fired 10 shots toward the Penn State goalkeeper with six of them on target.
Double overtime wasn't enough to break the tie as the game ended in a 2-2 draw. Only one shot on goal was fired in the two overtime periods as Penn State had a chance in the first extra segment. The Knights outshot the Nittany Lions by a count of 19-7 and had far more corners as well, with UCF earning 14 to Penn State's four. The Black and Gold held two-thirds of the possession throughout the entirety of the match.
UP NEXT
The Knights are back in action on Sunday night as they welcome UTRGV to town at 6 p.m.
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