Scranton Lions Soccer Battle in Conference Championship Nail-Biter
| Final | 1 | 2 | OT | OT2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Team Stats
Penn State New Kensington
| Game Statistics | Penn State Scranton | Penn State New Kensington |
|---|---|---|
| Shots (on goal) | 8 (4) | 19 (10) |
| Saves | 9 | 4 |
| Fouls | 11 | 9 |
| Corner Kicks | 3 | 5 |
| Offsides | 8 | 9 |
By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics
On Tuesday afternoon, the Penn State Scranton Lions men's soccer squad lost a heart breaking 1-0 double overtime battle to rival Penn State New Kensington in their first ever PSUAC conference championship appearance at the Penn State main campus' beautiful Panzer Stadium. This was Scranton's second loss to Penn State New Kensington this year, as back on October 18th, just 17 days ago, they fell on the road to them in a commanding 5-0 shutout. With this tough defeat, rookie interim head coach Christian Pane and his Scranton ball club see their impressive three game winning streak snapped and they wrap up their stellar 2025 campaign with a solid 9-9-1 overall record and they were 4-3-1 in their all-important league play schedule.
In a neck-and-neck showdown throughout, both teams were held scoreless in both halves of regulation and even after the first sudden death overtime period. However, at the 104:11 mark in the second overtime session, New Kensington's senior defenseman Tanner Stockdill finally got his club on the scoreboard at long last, assisted by fellow senior, midfielder Dylan Shaw, getting one between the pipes for the thrilling walk-off 1-0 victory.
For the Scranton offensive attack, they were held to just a quartet of shots on goal in the contest, as stand-out sophomore forward Fabrice Gatsinzi recorded a pair, and the dynamic freshmen duo of Billy Hogan and Aaron Juarez each notched one apiece.
Overall in the stat department, the Lions from New Kensington outpaced Scranton in shots by a wide 19-8 margin, led in corner kicks 5-3, while Scranton had the advantage in saves at 9-4, and fouls at 11-9 during the hotly contested match.
On the goal-tending side of things, Scranton was led by the tremendous effort of their sophomore net-minder Ryan Smith who played the entire 104:11 of the double overtime festivities, while saving an awe-inspiring nine out of the ten shots on goal he faced on the day. Meanwhile, New Kensington's senior goalie David Jimenez went the distance as well in his dominant complete game shutout victorious performance, as he stopped all four shots on goal Scranton fired his way in the matinee.
