After an injury-riddled season that left it with a 6-10-2 record going into the Big Ten men’s tournament, Penn State could have hung it up, but the Lions opened play Thursday with a 2-1 comeback victory over Northwestern decided by senior Simon Omekanda‘s goal in the 103rd minute.
The Lions have played arguably the toughest non-conference schedule in the country with losses to No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 2 Maryland, No. 6 Maryland, No. 10 North Carolina and No. 17 Lehigh. The Lions’ brutal schedule is why they were 27th in the country in the NCAA’s most recent RPI rankings, but they will probably need to beat top seed Indiana in Friday’s semifinals to get any consideration from the NCAA selectors.
A victory over the Hoosiers is not out of the realm of possibility. Penn State has won its last three meetings with IU, including a 1-0 victory two weeks ago.
This wasn’t the way the season was supposed to go for the Lions — who were ranked 11th in the Soccer America Preseason Top 25 — but they were hit hard by injuries. Forward Jason Yeisley, a member of last year’s Soccer America All-Freshman team, was lost for the season with a knee injury. In early October, leading scorer Barkley Smith went out with a hip injury.
Despite going down, 1-0, in the 25th minute to Northwestern, the Lions persevered and got the equalizer in the 82nd minute on Ryan Badaracco‘s first goal of his career. Omekanda, who was born in Morocco and is a former “Mr. Michigan” prep star, won the game in overtime, skipping a shot past Northwestern goalkeeper Justin Pines from eight yards.
“Our kids hung in there for a long time,” Penn State coach Barry Gorman said, “and given our injuries, I think it’s a credit to them.”
In the other Big Ten semifinal, host Ohio State (a 3-1 winner over Michigan State) faces Michigan (which upset No. 3 seed Wisconsin, 1-0).
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ATLANTIC SUN. In first-round play, No. 5 seed Jacksonville defeated No. 4 Belmont, 1-0 on Ramak Niakan safi‘s goal late in the first half. The meeting of the A-Sun Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year came to an end with 16 minutes remaining in the game when Belmont’s Jay Ayres received a red card for bringing Dolphin scoring ace Tommy Krizanovic down. In the other semifinal, All-American Willy Guadarrama scored twice to lead Campbell to a 2-1 win over Mercer.
ATLANTIC-10. Scott Loesser scored in the 89th minute to propel Richmond past Xavier, 1-0, in the first round. Duquesne eliminated host Charlotte, 5-4, in a shootout after the teams played to a 0-0 tie. Despite their winning records, both Richmond (10-6-4) and Duquesne (11-6-2) will probably have to win the A-10 title to get into the NCAA Tournament. Richmond faces Rhode Island and Duquesne meets top seed Saint Louis in Friday’s semifinals.
BIG SOUTH. The only higher seed to fall was host Radford, which lost to No. 6 High Point on penalty kicks after their game ended 1-1. Top seed Winthrop won its quarterfinal game with a 2-1 win over VMI on goals by Kenyans David Kenga and Saidi Isaac. No. 2 seed Coastal Carolina struggled to put away UNC Asheville, but the Chants prevailed, 2-1, with Tim Shaw providing the decisive goal in the 41st minute. Virginia Tech transfer Josh Boateng and Adrian Bumbut scored in Liberty’s 2-0 win over Birmingham-Southern.
MAAC. Host Fairfield and St. Peter’s both advanced to Sunday’s final at Fairfield with 3-0 victories. Sam Bailey led the top-seeded Stags against Loyola (Md.) with two goals. Murphy Wiredu, Marco Orias and Juan Gaviria scored in the Peacocks’ victory over No. 2 seed Niagara.