Soccer Battles Can’t Overtake Hazleton in 2-2 Tie

McKeesport, PA. – It took two overtimes on Friday afternoon, and a winner still couldn’t be determined as the Penn State Greater Allegheny Soccer team (1-2-1, 0-0-1) tied in their game with Penn State Hazleton (0-1-2, 0-0-1) 2-2. PSUGA played from behind early but were able to battle back and tie the game before the deadlock in overtime began.

It was PSU-Hazleton that took the early advantage when Aaron Wrobleski took a pass from Daniel Mendoza to give the opponents a 1-0 advantage five minutes into the game. Hazleton would crack through the PSUGA defense one more time in the half when Ethan Decker found the net in the 36^th minute and gave Hazleton a 2-0 lead before halftime. It was the third time this season that PSUGA would enter the break trailing, but they still had plenty of things working in their favor.

PSUGA outshot Hazleton 10-6 in the first half and had several opportunities in the offensive zone. Their defense would be rock solid for the rest of the game giving the offense the chance to capitalize on their early opportunities.

It was Dario Marina (Pittsburgh, PA./Baldwin HS) who would get PSUGA on the board in the 51^st minute, scoring off of a free-kick that brought the score back to 2-1. It was Marina’s second goal of the season, marking the first time in his four-year career that Marina has scored more than one goal in a season after being featured primarily as a defender over the last three years.

As time ticked on, the score remained 2-1 until the 64^th minute when sophomore Namy Makiese (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS) got a breakaway through the middle of the field and snuck the ball past the charging keeper to tie things at 2-2. It was Makiese’s second goal of the season tying his career-high and putting him and Marina atop the goal-scoring leaderboards for PSUGA this season.

As the 90 minutes ticked away, we still did not have a winner so the game moved to overtime where once again the teams battled for position. PSUGA had an opportunity late in the second overtime when Makiese took a pass from Mohammed Sawhel (Pittsburgh, PA.), but it just banged off the crossbar in the 109^th minute. The game would end in a 2-2 tie as both teams move to 0-0-1 in conference play to start the year.

Marina led the offense shooting the ball eight times, five on goal, while Makiese took six shots landing two on goal. Goalkeeper Colin Bucsok (Pittsburgh, PA./Thomas Jefferson HS) played a strong game in net allowing two goals and making five saves facing seven shots on net to pick up his first tie of the season. It was a milestone day for Bucsok who became the all-time saves leader in PSUGA history with 182 saves in his first two-plus seasons.

PSUGA will now get a little over a week off to rest and recover before getting into the thick of their conference schedule next weekend. The rest is well deserved after PSUGA played a stretch of four games in 10 days, going 1-2-1 to start the year.

The PSUGA soccer team will be back in action on Saturday, September 21^st when they go on the road to face PSU-Lehigh Valley at 5 p.m.