Pairing of the Penns

For the second consecutive game, the Penn men’s soccer team will face a squad led by a dynamic duo on the front line.

Last week, the Quakers were unable to stop Temple’s Tyler Witmer and J.T. Noone. If anything, the defense’s task only gets tougher as Penn takes on Penn State’s Jason Yeisley and Corey Hertzog in University Park, Pa.

“They’ve got guys like Drew Cost and [Frank] Costigliola in midfield, but their two frontrunners [Jason Yeisley and Corey Hertzog] are scoring a lot of goals and creating a lot of opportunities,” Penn coach Rudy Fuller said.

Yeisley, a senior, and Hertzog, a sophomore, have accounted for nine of the Nittany Lions’ 17 goals this season.

Overall, Penn State’s offensive attack is powerful — the Nittany Lions have outshot opponents 152-92 so far in 2009.

Penn will counter with centerbacks Jake Levin and Thomas Brandt, who Fuller said “can compete with anyone in the country.”

“As long as we play as a team and not go off and do things on our own individually, we’ll be fine,” junior goalie Ben Berg said. “We’re a cohesive unit — guys don’t have a lot of chances on us.”

Yeisley and Hertzog have each won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors this year, but the Quakers were able to shut them both down last season in a 3-0 victory at Rhodes Field.

Today’s matchup in University Park will likely be a tougher task because the Nittany Lions are a completely different team at home, where Yeisley burned the Quakers with two goals in Penn State’s 3-2 double overtime victory in 2007.

At Jeffrey Field this season, Penn State has a 4-0-1 record and has outscored opponents 14-2. Away from home, the Nittany Lions are only 1-3-0 and have been outscored, 7-3.

That home-field advantage may be partially explained by the fact that the Nittany Lions played weaker opponents at home, but the suboptimal playing conditions on Penn State’s home turf may also play a role.

“Apparently the field is not going to be as even — it’s supposed to be raining, so it’s going to be a really sloppy game,” junior forward Loukas Tasigianis said. “We’re basically going to have to just grind out a victory and play tough.”

The Nittany Lions are coming off of a 2-0 win over then-No. 22 Michigan Sunday in the team’s home opener.

“They have the momentum, but we’re trying to get our momentum back,” Tasigianis said of the Quakers’ attempt to rebound from an overtime loss to the Owls last Wednesday. “We’re trying to prove things this year, so we’re just going to play as hard as they will, if not even harder, to win.”

Penn State holds a 19-6-3 series record over Penn, but the Quakers don’t plan to back down from their in-state rivals.

“I said from the moment I got to Penn that this is a game that should happen every year,” Fuller said. “It took me nine years to get it on the schedule, but we’ve played them the last two years, and I hope we play them every year.”

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