Lions Fall 6-0 to Wittenberg in Home Opener
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's soccer returned to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting non-conference opponent Wittenberg University at Spring Run Stadium for the Lions' first home game of the season.
Wittenberg (1-0-1) earned the 6-0 win, scoring two first half goals before putting four more on the board in the second half.
Tommy Packevicz (Trumbull, CT/Christian Heritage) made 13 saves for Penn State Altoona (1-1), finishing with the third-most saves in a game in men's soccer program history. Ciaran Corr (Newtown Square, PA/Marple Newtown) and Grady Ballard (State College, PA/State College) each had one shot on goal.
Wittenberg scored the game's first goal at 22:34, when Logan Evans took a pass from Eli Esterline and found the back of the net on a shot. Evans scored once more in the period, increasing his team's lead to 2-0 at the 30:45 mark after collecting the ball outside of the box and firing a shot past the keeper from 18 yards.
The score remained 2-0 until the 73:14 mark, when Evans set up Aaron Craddock at the edge of the goal box. Craddock scored on a shot, upping the Tigers' advantage to 3-0.
Evans notched the hat trick at 78:09 on a nice setup. Lukas Lindberg sent a ball into the box, where it was softly headed forward by Esterline and found Evans cutting to the net. Evans chipped a shot past the keeper, making it 4-0.
Esterline tallied a goal just 1:23 later, collecting a deflection just outside the box and sending a shot into the bottom right corner of the net. Hunter Blair capped the scoring at 82:36, winning a battle for the ball in the middle of the field and scoring from inside the box.
Penn State Altoona men's soccer will host non-conference opponent Wilson College on Wednesday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m.
