Sept. 21, 2008
(San Francisco) - USF men's soccer scored twice in the first 11 minutes and shut down Penn State for a 2-0 victory in the third match of the 2008 BMW/Nike Soccer Challenge Sunday afternoon at Negoesco Stadium. The Dons (1-4-1) collect their first victory of the season and improve to 4-0-1 all-time against the Nittany Lions (2-4-2). Junior forward Conor Chinn scored in the third minute from the top of the box off a nice feed from freshman defender Victor Wennberg. It was the second goal of the season and tournament for Chinn and the first career point for Wennberg in the Green and Gold. Both were named to the all-tournament team. Senior defender Jeff Russell was named tournament MVP after stabilizing a defensive unit that allowed just one goal in 200 minutes. Russell collected an assist on Chinn's equalizer in the Dons opening 1-1 deadlock against UNLV Friday night. "We feel we are progressing as a team and we are creating some good momentum going into conference play," USF head coach Erik Visser said. "I am pleased with the weekend. It was very nice for our team to get a tournament win and I thought we did some good things against two quality opponents." USF wasted no time striking again as sophomore forward Bryan Burke registered his first goal of the year in the 11th minute, drilling a shot to the far post after beating two defenders off a short pass from junior midfielder Leon Williams. San Francisco owned a 13-9 shot advantage in the contest, led by four from Chinn, three on frame and four from Burke, two on target. Senior goalkeeper Jeremy Coupe (1-2-1) collected the first shutout of his USF career and made four saves. All-tournament selection Liam Fitzwater suffered the loss for Penn State, making five saves in the contest.
With a combined 17 national championships between the two schools, USF remains unbeaten against Penn State, improving the overall ledger to 4-0-1 with four straight wins. The two teams recorded a deadlock in the 1950 College Soccer Bowl, sharing the national title. San Francisco returns to action when it travels across the Bay Bridge to take on ancient Bay Area rival California Friday, September 26. Kick off is set for 4:00 PM at Edwards Stadium. BMW/Nike Challenge Tournament Champion: USF BMW/Nike Challenge All-Tournament Team BMW/Nike Soccer Challenge Tournament Results |
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