No. 18 MSU falls at Penn State, 2-1

Sunday, October 10

State College, Pa.

3:00 PM

Michigan State University

Penn State

10/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Oct. 10, 2010

Final Stats

East Lansing, Mich. - No. 18 Michigan State dropped a second-straight heartbreaker in Big Ten play, falling at Penn State by a 2-1 score on Sunday afternoon. The MSU tally came from junior Brent Rosendall, and Avery Steinlage made a season-best 11 saves in the loss. MSU falls to 8-3-0, 1-2-0 in Big Ten Conference play.

The backbreaker for the Spartans came in the 86th minute, when Matheus Braga sent a cross into the box for Corey Hertzog, and Hertzog buried it from 10 yards out for the game-winner.

Penn State outshot the Spartans 23-6 on the afternoon, with shots on goal 13-3 in favor of the Nittany Lions. MSU had four corners to Penn State's two, and was whistled for being offsides five times to just once for PSU.

"The stats maybe are a little misleading - Avery made some good saves today, and we probably had a lot blocked that didn't get to the net," said Head Coach Damon Rensing. "We played great in the first half, went up by a goal, and had a great chance to make it 2-0 - but Penn State came up with the save there. Penn State was the better team in the second half- they came at us with energy, and we weren't able to match it. We just have to move on and get ready for a good Western Michigan team on Wednesday."

MSU had spent most of the game even or ahead of the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard, if not on the statistics sheet. Jeff Ricondo set up Brent Rosendall to put Michigan State up 1-0 in the 27th minute. Ricondo played the ball up the right side to Rosendall, who netted his fourth of the season. Steinlage had an active first half, making four saves in the opening stanza en route to a game-high 11.

Penn State tied the game midway through the second half. Braga gained the equalizer for the home team at 66:42, off an assist from Mackenzie Arment. Then came the late goal with under four minutes remaining, which gave Penn State the victory.

The Spartans will return home for a pair of contests next week. MSU will host a midweek non-conference matchup with Western Michigan on Wednesday, then will host Wisconsin at home on Sunday as part of a men's-women's doubleheader at DeMartin Stadium that will air on the Big Ten Network. The women's game starts at noon, and the men are scheduled for a 2:30 start.