Men’s Soccer
Andrew Linnehan
#7: PENN STATE
One bright spot of Penn State's '09 outlook is that the Nits return Treavor Gelsinger, their leading scorer from last year.
To someone who’s not familiar with Big Ten soccer, the assumption could be made that Penn State (ranked in the 7-slot in our preseason rankings) is a decent, middle-of-the-road group of footballers. That assumption would be wrong. You see, there are only seven schools in the B10 that have men’s soccer programs, so in actuality this slot means that we think Penn State will be the worst team in the conference this year. We dare you to prove us wrong:
THE GOOD: The Nits return their leading point-getter from last season, Treavor Gelsinger. He had 12 points from six goals on the year, and the hope is that he can add some assists to his stat sheet in ‘09. What he already has is an ability to stuff home scoring opportunities, and that should only improve. On the recruiting trail, PSU added F Rafael Faria to the mix, a nice steal from Florida who was Miami-Dade County’s HS Player of the Year last year. Add two-time All Big Ten forward Jason Yeisley to this crew and the Lions should be fairly potent offensively in ‘09.
THE BAD: They have defense and discipline issues, which at times can be related. To be a good defensive ballclub, you have to be incredibly disciplined and patient. The Nits were neither in ‘08. PSU led the league in fouls per game (16.89) and red cards (3) and finished second with 32 yellow cards in only 19 games. This usually indicates a team that plays lazy defense and is consistently out of position, a direct correlation to Penn State having BY FAR the highest goals against average in the conference (1.56 goals/game).
THE UGLY: For some bad teams, you can argue that a few improvements and a glass-half-full approach will lead to at least a marginal rise in the standings. With Penn State, however, not even Barack Obama could paint a silver lining around Jeffrey Field. The Nits were the only team in the league to have a negative goal differential, and theirs was a massive -11. 20 goals for and 31 against. Even if they even that up, which would be a better construction job than Ashley Simpson’s new nose, PSU is STILL last in the Big Ten. Have fun this year, boys. And watch the red cards, huh?
