Lions' Corner-Kick Goal Beats U-M in Big Ten Opener

Sunday, September 22

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:00 PM

Michigan

2-3-1

Penn State

5-3

Penn State

Michigan

9/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Gene Skidmore

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Soccer Field)
Score: Penn State 1, Michigan 0
Records: U-M (2-3-1, 0-1 Big Ten), PSU (5-3, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 27 -- at Evansville (Evansville, Ind.), 7:30 p.m. EST/CDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In front of 1,000 fans on the U-M Soccer Field, the University of Michigan men's soccer team fell 1-0 to Penn State Sunday (Sept. 22) in its Big Ten Conference opener. The lone goal of the match came at 72:09 when Kenji Treschuk booted home a Brian Devlin corner kick.

The Wolverines had a late opportunity to send the match into overtime as they controlled the final two minutes of action. With less than 20 seconds remaining the Maize and Blue mounted a late offensive attack as freshman midfielder Adam Bruh (Roslyn Heights, N.Y./Wheatley HS) sent a corner kick into the Penn State five-yard box. Three Wolverines were in the area of the airborne kick, but the ball was knocked across the front of the goal and ended up on the far side of the field as time expired.

In addition to the late offensive charge put on U-M, the Wolverines had many run-on chances that Nittany Lion goalkeeper Ryan Moate denied. At 53:33, sophomore Mychal Turpin (Pontiac, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) settled the ball at midfield and began a strong run at the Penn State goal. Turpin, Michigan's 2002 leading goal-scorer, dribbled past two Nittany Lion defenders and reached the 18-yard box needing only to beat Moate for his seventh goal of the season. As Turpin fired the shot on goal, Moate made a diving save and smothered the ball to end the scoring chance.

With the match scoreless heading into the 73rd minute of play, Penn State was awarded a corner kick. Devlin took the kick in the right corner and looked as if he were going to send the ball to the short man. Michigan noticed the short play and two defenders went to stop the pass, but Devlin read the Wolverine coverage and served the ball to the far corner of the box. Freshman Trai Blanks (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) tracked the ball but as he left his space, Treschuk moved into the open space, one-touched the ball around Blanks, and sent it past Michigan goalkeeper Joe Zawacki (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) for the eventual game-winner.

Zawacki made four saves in his return to the starting lineup.

The Wolverines will take to the bus next weekend for a pair of non-conference matches. Michigan faces Evansville on Friday (Sept. 27) at 7:30 p.m. in Evansville, Ind., and meets Dayton at 1 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 29) in Dayton, Ohio.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Penn State	0	1	1
Michigan	0	0	0

Scoring, Time (Assist)
2nd -- PSU, Kenji Treschuk, 72:09 (Brian Devlin)

Shots: U-M 14, PSU 15
Saves: U-M 4 (Joe Zawacki 4), PSU 6 (Ryan Moate 6)
Corner Kicks: U-M 9, PSU 6
Fouls: U-M 19, PSU 21
Cards: PSU, David Walters, 85:05 (yellow); U-M, Adam Bruh, 85:31 (yellow)

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On how his team is playing ... "What I like is that our team continues to get better. We're playing with a lot more confidence than we did last weekend. As the pieces to the puzzle are coming together I think that we will be a team that can play a strong season. We have to get on a little roll. I think this upcoming weekend swing against Evansville and Dayton is very important to us."

On the rivalry between Michigan and Penn State ... "I think the rivalry was established right out of the gates. We played them well twice in 2000 and again here today. They have a lot of players that are similar to ours, in the sense that we both want to play a possession-based game. We want to control the middle channel, and we both want to play some good, attractive soccer. Anytime you get two teams that play similarly against each other, you're going to have a good game."

On his team's scoring chances ... "When you look at all the corner kicks we had, that means we were the attacking team today. If we get one of those corner kicks it's a different story. I think we had more dangerous chances than they did. We were in twice against the goalkeeper, and we had corner kicks that they were on their heels defending. It was just a matter of timing.