Rios dribbling
Tyler Schueck
2
Winner Penn State Berks PSBM (2-0-1)
1
Alvernia ALV (1-2-1)
Winner
Penn State Berks PSBM
(2-0-1)
2
Final
1
Alvernia ALV
(1-2-1)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Penn State Berks PSBM 0 2 2
Alvernia ALV 0 1 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

Men's soccer earns first ever win over Alvernia

READING, PA - Josh Rios and Brenden Valverde tallied a pair of goals 27 seconds apart and Trent Johnson made a stop on a penalty kick in the 87th minute to preserve the lead and give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 win over Alvernia University on Friday night. The victory was the first ever for the men's soccer program against Alvernia.

The Nittany Lions continued their best start to a season and improve to 2-0-1 overall, while the Golden Wolves drop to 1-2-1 on the season.

The two teams played through a scoreless first half, with the Golden Wolves putting up 11 shots and Berks taking five. Alvernia came out of the gate strong out of the intermission as Jay Ringer recorded the first goal of the game just 1:48 into the second half.

The ball remained in Alvernia's offensive end of the field over the next few minutes before the Nittany Lions gained control in the midfield and methodically worked down toward the offensive end. Luke Romanoski quickly played a ball over to Rios, who took a dribble and unloaded a left footed line drive inside the right post at 72:12 for his first goal of the season.

The Golden Wolves quickly turned the ball over and Rios took control of the ball at midfield. Rios dribbled past a couple defenders and passed ahead to Jose Aparicio, who had just checked into the game following the goal. After taking the pass at the top of the box from Aparicio, Valverde got past the defender and beat the keeper for a grounder into the far corner of the net with 72:39 on the clock.

Over the next 14 minutes, Johnson made two saves and the defense blocked two shots to keep the lead in the Nittany Lions favor. The lead was in jeopardy after Berks was called for a penalty in the box at the 86:44 mark of the game. Ryan Kuster placed a liner toward the right side, but Johnson guessed perfectly and made an acrobatic diving save. Alvernia earned a corner kick on the play, which was quickly cleared out of harms way by the Berks defense.

Johnson finished the match with a career-high 10 saves, four stops in the first half and six in the second. In the eighth minute of the first half, Johnson received some help from his teammates with a defensive save to keep the Golden Wolves off the board.

The defensive unit of Jakob Fischer, Orion Mathias, Brennan Scheetz, Galen Raab, Cameron Yost, and Adam Omar put in a solid effort against the Alvernia attack all game. Tom Ulrich, Tyler Brown, Romanoski, Alex Williams, and Alex Khaldaoui put forth strong performances in the midfield. As always, Valverde was a workhorse up top for Berks as he recorded eight shots in the contest.

Luca Grippa finished with four saves in net for Alvernia. The Golden Wolves outshot Berks by a 21-12 margin (12-6 on goal) and held an 8-1 advantage on corner kicks.

The Nittany Lions have a quick turn around as they travel to Lancaster Bible College for the NEAC opener on Saturday, September 8 at 3 p.m.
 
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