Penn State defender Andres Casais, right, attempts to kick the ball away from senior forward Kenzo Webster while running toward the Penn State goal. Webster helped lead the Spartans to victory by scoring a penalty kick after double overtime.
In a matchup as even as it gets, the MSU men’s soccer team ousted Penn State from the Big Ten Tournament to advance to round two.
After neither team could seal the deal during 90-minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtimes, the Spartans and Nittany Lions headed into a penalty kick round in a 0-0 tie.
In the penalty-kick lineup for the Spartans was junior defender Josh Rogers, who broke his foot in the Sept. 23 Penn State matchup.
Rogers came off the bench for the first time since his injury to put away MSU’s third penalty kick.
The Spartans went on to defeat Penn State, 4-3, in the penalty kick round.
“It’s really satisfying,” Rogers said.
“I was kind of disappointed I didn’t get any minutes (in the game), but they needed me on penalty kicks so I stepped up and did it.”
Before Rogers’ injury, he was the go-to man for penalty kicks.
“(Rogers) is very confident and deadly with his shots. I know he hadn’t played, but for him it wasn’t a challenge,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said.
“He was the one guy I was confident on. He has ice in his veins, and he is a real confident player.”
Although Rogers really wanted playing time in this revenge matchup, Baum said it would have been unwise to play someone who had been sitting out for five weeks with minimal practice time.
In a game where defense dominated, both teams only allowed two shots on goal.
“We pride ourselves on defense, and I think we came up big today,” Baum said. “Defense carried us.”
The Spartans were hurting without stand-out senior midfielder Kevin Reiman who received a red card in last week’s Ohio State matchup. Baum said having Reiman would have allowed players to get more rest.
“Not that (Reiman) would have won the game for us, he would have reduced the minutes for some players – Kenzo Webster could barely run at the end of the game, (Reiman) could have helped him out,” he said.
The matchup against Penn State very much resembled the Sept. 23 game from the regular season, which ended in a 2-2 double-overtime tie.
“I think the couple times we’ve played Penn State can tell you that we are pretty evenly matched up,” Baum said.
The Spartans advance to round two of the Big Ten Tournament to play Indiana, the team that handed MSU its first Big Ten loss.
“Indiana is a gifted team,” Baum said.
“On paper I think they have more talent than we do, but this team has a lot of heart and momentum going for it.”
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MSU will kick off against the Hoosiers at 1:30 p.m. today at Old College Field.
The winner of that contest will earn the right to play in the Big Ten Championship game Sunday at 2 p.m. at Old College Field.
