University Park, Pa. – The Le Moyne College men's soccer team dropped their season opener at Penn State on Sunday by a score of 4-0.

The Nittany Lions, who recorded a 1-1 tie at No. 5 Pittsburgh on Thursday in their 2023 season opener, scored twice in each half against the Dolphins to earn a shutout victory during their first home match of the season.

"We knew it was going to be tough going into today's match against a big opponent like PSU," said Le Moyne head coach Callum Donnelly '17, M '21.  "It was a great first test for us as our journey as a Division I program begins. We worked ever so hard throughout, but it wasn't meant to be. I think their class and quality showed as the game went on, but we have lots of positives to take moving forward. I'm excited about what this group can achieve going forward," Donnelly added.

The Dolphins recorded the first shot on goal of the game in the 12^th minute when redshirt-junior defender Jack Goodrich (Kelsall, England/King's School Chester) received the ball on the left wing and sent a cross in the air to the far post where freshman forward Felix Ludemann (Wrestedt, Germany/Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium Uelzen) redirected the ball on goal with his right foot, but Penn State fifth-year goalkeeper Kris Shakes caught the ball to make the save.

Penn State was awarded a penalty kick on a handball in the 14^th minute, and PSU forward Peter Mangione placed a shot in the bottom right corner of the net to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead.

In the 15^th minute Ludemann received the ball on the right wing, then sent a pass to his left for freshman forward Kjell Knaak (Aukrug, Germany/Schule Hohe Geest), who turned and split two defenders with a dribble to his left before driving a low left-footed towards the bottom right corner of the goal. Shakes dove to his left and blocked the shot for his second save of the contest.

With just over 21 minutes remaining in the first half, Penn State freshman midfielder Caden Grabfelder received the ball in the middle of PSU's attacking third and drove a right-footed shot from just outside the 18-yard box into the upper left corner of the Le Moyne goal to double his team's lead.

In the 40^th minute Knaak sent a pass to graduate midfielder Luca Nicastro (Ottawa, Ontario/Nepean/St. Bonaventure) in the left side of Le Moyne's attacking third. Nicastro cut back to his right to create space from his defender, then hit a right-footed shot on goal that was caught by Shakes.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first half, Penn State sophomore midfielder Cohen Weaver received the ball just outside Le Moyne's 18-yard box and tapped a through ball for junior midfielder Van Danielson into the left side of the box. Le Moyne sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Gera (Jamesville, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) came off his line, went to ground and smothered the ball before Danielson could get a touch on it.

The Nittany Lions extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second half when junior midfielder Sean Bettenhausen sent a through ball to fifth-year forward Liam Butts into the left side of Le Moyne's penalty area. Gera raced off his line to challenge Butts, but the PSU forward sent a pass to his right across the box for junior forward Atem Kato who slid and knocked the ball into the net.

Danielson scored Penn State's final goal in the 64^th minute off an assist from freshman forward Samson Kpardeh.

The Dolphins will return to action on Thursday, August 31 at Saint Peter's.