Here's Penn State's schedule for Spring 2006 and Fall 2006. Their official regular season schedule (i.e. Fall '06) is impressive as always, nonconference games against national champ Maryland, ACC teams like Wake Forest and North Carolina, the MAC champion and runner-up in Akron and Buffalo, traditional powers Furman and Hartwick, etc. In other Penn State news, Richard Costanzo has transferred to Maryland. He won the Big Ten rookie of the year award in 2004 but sat out 2005 due to a knee injury. His loss hurts with David Walters and Brian Devlin graduating, since I figured he would be a withdrawn forward/playmaker type. 2006 Penn State Spring Schedule MARCH Friday 3rd CANADIAN SELECT (International) 7:00PM Saturday 18th St. Francis (PA) 7:30PM Saturday 25th BUCKNELL 7:30PM APRIL Saturday 1st SLIPPERY ROCK 9:30AM Saturday 1st vs. LAFAYETTE 7:30PM Sunday 9th vs. Virginia-Germantown, MD 1:00PM Sunday 9th vs. TBD-Germantown, MD 4:00PM Friday 21st vs. Harrisburg City Islanders-Mill Hall, PA 7:00PM March games played in Holuba Hall unless weather permits games at Little Jeffrey April games played at Little Jeffrey Germantown, MD games part of Ulman Cancer Fund Benefit 2006 Penn State Fall Schedule-TENTATIVE AUGUST Monday 14th BINGHAMTON-EXHIBITION 7:00PM Sunday 20th at Rutgers -EXHIBITION 5:00PM OHIO STATE TOURNAMENT Friday 25th Furman 5:00PM Sunday 27th Hartwick** 12:00PM SEPTEMBER NORTH CAROLINA TOURNAMENT Friday 1st Wake Forest ** 5:00PM Sunday 3rd North Carolina** 3:30PM PENN STATE NIKE CLASSIC Friday 8th SAN FRANCISCO ** 7:30PM Sunday 10th BOSTON UNIVERSITY 2:30PM Sunday 17th MICHIGAN STATE 2:00PM Wednesday 20th at Maryland** 7:00PM Sunday 24th at Northwestern 12:30PM Wednesday 27th WEST VIRGINIA** 7:00PM OCTOBER Sunday 1st OHIO STATE ** 2:00PM Friday 6th AKRON** 7:30PM Sunday 8th BUFFALO 3:00PM Sunday 15th at Wisconsin 12:00PM Tuesday 17th BUCKNELL 7:00PM Friday 20th INDIANA**-SENIOR NIGHT/ALUM WEEKEND 8:00PM Wednesday 25th LEHIGH 7:00PM Saturday 18th at Michigan 7:00PM NOVEMBER Thursday 2nd Big Ten Qtr's at Ohio State TBD Friday 3rd Big Ten Semi's at Ohio State TBD Sunday 5th Big Ten Finals at Ohio State TBD
Penn State beat Glen Shields on Friday night 3-0. I dont know anything else about the game, other than the score.
From: www.pennstatesoccer.com Nittany Lions Win Spring Opener 3-0 Over Canadian U-30 Squad "Penn State scored 18 seconds into play and never looked backed as the Nittany Lions won 3-0 over a visiting Canadian U-30 squad. PSU got goals from Freshman forward Jason Yeisley, sophomore midfielder Dan Shaffer and freshman midfielder Barkley Miller en route to the win. Junior forward Simon Omekanda added two assists. Junior defender David Gray put in an excellent performance in the back as the Nittany Lions held the opposition to just one shot despite playing without sophomore defenders Geordie MacNeill and Stephen Reihner."
Canada has U30 squad? What the hell is that? Also, has there been any word out of Happy Valley as to why Costanzo bolted? Was he unhappy with the coaches or do he want to go out of state for school? Or was it the lure of the ACC and playing for the national champs?
Richie has battled with Gorman for the past year and really feels that a change of venue is best. He is still friends with the other players but it was not enough to keep him there. Also (conjecture from a inside source), he thinks he'll have a better chance at MLS elsewhere.
I wasn't able to attend the game against the Canadian U-30s, so I have no clue what team this is. Futbol_king9 said they played Glen Shields, a Canadian club that has youth teams (from U-8 to U-21) as well as a professional side. So perhaps PSU played the pro team? I know that Penn State has played Glen Shields over the years. As for Costanzo, I heard he wanted to play in a league that more suited his style of play. The ACC was his priority and he looked at a few teams before deciding to play at Maryland. I hadn't heard about a falling out or anything, though with Omekanda and Yeisley, he probably would have been a midfielder rather than a true forward at Penn State this year, so perhaps he wanted a chance to play up top? This is pure speculation on my part. It should be interesting to see how he rebounds from injury, as well as how he settles in with the Terps. He's really gifted, fast and loves to take defenders on. I wish he stayed, I think he would've been a great withdrawn forward behind Omekanda and Yeisley with Reihner and Ascherl on the wings and Chambers playing centrally. I wish him the best of luck, except for September 20th, that's when Penn State plays at Maryland!
They played what appeared to be a 4-1-4-1 formation (a variation of 3-5-2) Omekanda would attack on the right wing to give them two uptop and was creative one v one. They have some very quality midfielders that they want to take advantage of and create more scoring opportunities. MacNeill will be outstanding again and Reihner is outstanding out of the back---one problem he has is injuries. He missed time last season and now this Spring he's hurting. They will need him. Yes, Richie will be missed, but this team can win without him as they did all last year.
I think you'll see him, assuming he's healthy and back in form, somewhere not up top. I'm going with outside back, similar to Lancos' role last year. I had heard that before, and Sasho's comments about him on the recruit release thing also indicate he'll get looks at basically outside back, outside mid, and up top.
Well, seeing as Penn State has sent practically no one to MLS since the league's inception - who else from PSU besides Ted Gillen from WAY back has actually played in MLS? - I can see why a player with legit MLS aspirations would want to transfer, especially if his relationship with the head coach was frosty. I know it's a chicken-and-egg thing, but at some point teams that hope to recruit MLS-caliber players need to show MLS-caliber recruits that coming to their program can help get them to the league. PSU, despite having plenty of success on the field the past few years, just hasn't done that. In fact, the only other ex-PSU player I can think of who played in MLS was Randy Merkel and he transferred TO MARYLAND, ironically, and used that as his launching pad to MLS. Even though his stay in the league was quite brief, it was more than any player who stayed at PSU has gotten.
Very true, Sandon! It's been quite a struggle for Penn Staters to make it in MLS. Ricardo Villar was somewhat hampered by his Brazilian citizenship, though he did play in the A-League, Austrian league, and K-League. Ben Dawson excelled, but was British, and played professionally in Scotland. Brent Jacquette was a Soccer America MVP, but lacked the physical skills to make it in MLS. Chad Severs was recently rookie of the year for the USL second division and signed with Rochester for the upcoming season, so he could possibly end up in MLS if he does well and continues to work his way up the USL ladder. Brian Devlin was drafted by the Metrostars but in a developmental role, so who knows if he'll ever play. I was surprised that David Walters wasn't given a similar shot, and I was always perplexed why Derek Potteiger never made it, I thought he was oustanding. As for the current crop of Nittany Lions, I think Yeisley and Omekanda have some of the physical traits that many of their PSU predecessors lacked. Omekanda has blazing speed, and Yeisley is big and fast with a great motor. Reihner is fantastic on the wings, but as G-Shock pointed out, always hurt. I don't know that Costanzo was appreciably better than some of Penn State's recent stars, but he still has a few years of eligibility to prove himself. Expansion and reserve squads will certainly help him, and maybe enable some Penn Staters to stick with a MLS club.
David Walters chose to follow the path of his degree.......Dont know if he'll decide to try his luck with soccer or not. Potteiger was drafted by the Revs, but never made it. He is now with the City Islanders for life. Ricard Villar was drafted by the "Burn", then went played in the USL then went to Germany.....But is now training with the LA Galaxy. Not sure what ever happened to Jacquete........I'm in the process of finding out what the deal is with Devlin....I havent seen anything with him in the Metros news as of late.
I always felt that Villar would've been in MLS since he graduated if he wasn't Brazilian (aka, Senior International). I am really surprised that the LA Galaxy might use a Senior International on Villar, though he might come relatively cheap. He was always gifted, it would be great for Penn State to have someone like Villar in MLS. I think that Jacquette played for the Riverhounds for a year or two, he had lots of heart and grit, just not big or fast enough for MLS. Potteiger was the complete package, I really thought he had the most MLS potential of this group of Nittany Lions, but he tried entering MLS at a time when the rosters were small (not the same reserve rosters) and he didn't leave school early for the roster protected P-40 slots (which, in my opinion, hurt his chances to stick in MLS). In any case, the City Islanders is a nice fit for him now, I think he just signed a multi-year contract (pretty rare in the USL, right?). I wonder if MLS scouts are interested in any of the current Nittany Lions. Like I said before, I'd think Yeisley, Omekanda, and Reihner are some of their best prospects.
I'll be surprised if Simon Omekanda isn't drafted. He's got a lot of talent, probably more than he's shown at PSU, at least if you go strictly by stats. He'll need a good Sr. year to shake any concerns about underachieving but I suspect he'll have a lot of MLS teams interested. Not first round interested, but late SuperDraft or early Supplemenatal draft interested. After that, it all depends what you do in camp. Also, he has an EU passport so he could always go that route, but that's pretty hit and miss depending on if you go to the right team. Yeisley appears to have a real shot but he'll need to build on his freshman season, which I suspect he will. He's such a clutch player and that's gonna appeal to some teams.
So its been a while for me but most things being put forth about the Penn State squad are true. Richie left for all the reasons mentioned, except that he wish to play forward and he didn' think that would happen at PSU. He didn't neccessarily bump heads with Gorman this past year but felt that during his injury he wasn't treated well and this had a lot to do with the change. Also professional apirations played a factor. He received many offers once it was out that he was leaving from New Mexico, Boston College, Wake, UNC, Duke and obviously Maryland. He made his decidion based off level of play, money offered and the fact the Maryland is relatively close to his family in Pittsburgh. If he is used in a Lancos like role they will definitely not be utilizing him to his potential he is too explosive to be used for occassional runs down the line and crosses. His skill level is way beyond that of Lancos and I see him fitting in nicely at an outside mid position. Devlin went and trained with the Metrostars but was not invited to California with the team as none of the Supplemental Draft players were and was told they would contact him upon their return. It is true that under Gorman no one has broken into the MLS which is probably partly due to their high rate of foreign talent versus domestic. Villar is training in LA right now and from what I hear things are going well. Omekanda could definitely go MLS but that is not what he wants. He wishes to go back to Belgium post graduation and play. He is still a Belgian citizen andactually has never taken the steps to get his American citizenship because Belgium doens't allow dual-citizenship and his preference was to return there. Yiesley definitely has shown he can score and there is always a spot for a player like that but lets talk about him in a few years because hes the kind of kid that is going to graduate, a smart kid that will want to play but also want the degree. Wasn't at their recent game against Glenn Shields but talking to very reliable source who was, the team "sucked" and was comprised of not very athletic, out of shape 25-30 year olds. with two good players, one of which was 17. Gorman has some connection with this club as Penn State has played one of their teams at least the past 3 springs.
Thats an in-depth report.... anyone know anything about PSU's recruiting? They only really need to replace Walters and Devlin so I imagine they will go out and get two playmakers, or atleast 1 seeing as Chambers will make up for the other.
From what I have heard, they have a solid class but nothing exceptional, no one who is suppose to be on the level of costanzo, walters, chambers or devlin when they came out of high school, but you never know who could flourish at the right place. Yiesley was not as heavily recruited and we all know what he did this year for penn state. There is also a decent number of foreign players coming in, which is typical of Gorman as he does a lot of overseas travelling for recriuting purposes.
I just want to say that I'm mortally offended that this thread title does not carry my nmae. Oh, and GO BUCKS!
The key players are not in the midfield but rather defensive and possibly a forward or two. Look at the defense where they have juniors and two seniors. Also they are bringing in three GKs with Conrad a junior and a backup who is weak--- the other one quit and didn't come back for Spring. Definitely a need here. Midfield should be solid with sophmores and a redshirt freshman. Simon is a senior, with only Yeisley and Miller up top. This is all based on who made official visits and committed. But being PSU who knows what will happen??
Good info, thanks...I wouldn't really consider Miller as the forward to move into simon's spot. He saw more time this year at outside mid and defense than anything else. Definitely need some depth up top and in the goal and expect a recruiting class of somewhere between 9-12 as Gorman brings in large classes every year and weeds people out over time.
Barkley is a constant mistery man. He did see quite a bit of time up top, but his conditioning was questioned and he was moved around. As we all know, ya gotta be able to run if you play outside. Simon can run !!
I haven't heard of any committments yet for Penn State - But I think the thing they need is depth. The back 4 is returning, and they were a very solid group throughout the year. Conrad has to be considered one of the best GK's in the country, especially after that performance he turned in in the Big 10 finals. Simon and Yeisley up top is a very formidable pair. What I think PSU needs is production out of the midfield - after Jason and Simon, no one really scored any goals for them last year. The next biggest threat is Chambers, but PSU needs a CM who goes forward and scores goals to compliment the two forwards. Hopefully, someone in this mysterious recruiting class can do that.
I agree, but I think they have the midfield settled with current players who were sitting behind Walters and Devlin (Gorman was waiting for one of them to become goal scorer but it never happened). Simon is playing outside mid and coming forward to create a third forward, so hopefully that is where the scoring forward will emerge from. They played a 3-5-2 in the first match so we'll see. Part of the need could be another forward if Barkley doesn't work out. Look at the defense to include a gk backup(s) as well where the depth is needed for future grooming as graduation will hit next year and the year after.
Don't hold on to the 3-5-2 formation as what they will play...Gorman has attempted that formation all of the past three springs and it has never worked out and he has changed when the season started. Later in the spring we will be able to speculate on such things but right now just look at it as testing people out. On another note, sophomore midfielder Dan Shaffer has decided to no longer stay with the team and focus on academics. He missed this season with injuries but is definitely a loss to the depth in the midfield as he would definitely had seen considerable time this past season without injuries and would have contested for a starting spot for next fall. So if going off the roster on www.pennstatesoccer.com which is kept up-to-date Penn State has lost 7 players this year. Devlin and Walters graduated, Costanzo is leaving for Maryland and 4 others are gone for various reasons most notably Shaffer who had the most experience of any of them.