MADISON, Wis. – The Penn State men's soccer team earned the outright Big Ten regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament with a 2-0 shutout win over Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at McClimon Track/Soccer Complex.
The The Nittany Lions will host No. 8-seed Michigan State at 4 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Jeffrey Field.
"I'm so proud of this group of players and staff and everyone who's supported us throughout the regular season," said head coach Jeff Cook. "This was a well-earned championship that required us to show our resiliency, our determination and our commitment to achieving our goals. We look forward to the upcoming Big Ten Tournament at Jeffrey Field, but can enjoy this Big Ten championship for a few days now."
It was a windy day in Madison as both teams tried to establish control in the opening minutes of the game. The Nittany Lions did a good job of getting balls into their offensive zone and even into the box to put pressure on the defense, but some missed connections and solid defense by the Badgers kept the visitors slightly off balanced.
In the 16th minute, Penn State earned its first corner kick of the match, and while nothing came of it, the offense was able to get the home team to turn the ball over on the counterattack.
Running up the right side, senior Danny Bloyou played a perfect ball to classmate Seth Kuhn at the top of the 18 as Kuhn took a great strike with his left foot to find the top-left corner of the goal to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead 18 minutes in.
The next 20 minutes was back-and-forth play before a loose ball in the six after a Penn State corner kick in the 39th minute saw shots from juniors Liam Butts and Kyle May but both shots were blocked, and another strike by redshirt senior Brandon Hackenberg sailed over the crossbar.
The Nittany Lions would head to the break with a one-goal advantage and a shot advantage of 5-3 over the home team.
The Badgers played to find the equalizer in the second half, taking two shots in the next nine minutes but both would be off target.
Just like the first half, the wind definitely played a factor as a lot of the game was back-and-forth as it was hard to hold onto possession and therefore with very few looks on frame by either team.
In the 80th minute, Butts nearly scored an insurance goal at the far post but he couldn't quite square up on the ball and missed to the right.
About two minutes later, Kuhn would find that insurance goal for Penn State as his long shot from the sideline on a pass by junior Andrew Privett had incredible bend to just get over the outstretched fingers of Wisconsin's keeper and into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The backline held strong through the entire game to keep junior goalkeeper Kris Shakes from having to make a save for their fifth shutout of the season and third in conference play.