St. Vincent Powers Past Lions, 3-1
by McKenzie Quirin
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's soccer team continued its 2023 season-opening homestand on Wednesday night, when the Lions were defeated 3-1 by non-conference foe St. Vincent College at Spring Run Stadium.
St. Vincent (2-1) got goals from Jose Hurtado, Mattia Speretta and Oziel Bonola-Soriano.
Penn State Altoona (0-1-1) was held to two shots on goal as a team. Luke Hall (State College, PA/State College) and Ethan Firth (York, PA/Central York) each had shots on goal, with Firth's resulting in the Lions' lone goal.
Sasha Mohoruk (State College, PA/State College) got the start at goalkeeper for the Lions and took the loss while playing 90 minutes and making eight saves on 11 shot attempts by St. Vincent.
St. Vincent struck first at 10:20, when Bonola-Soriano tapped the ball past the keeper for his first goal of the season. The Lions held off the visitors for the remainder of the first half.
In the second half, St. Vincent upped its lead to 2-0 on a goal from Hurtado at 60:24. At 72:36, the Lions broke the shutout when Firth headed the ball into the left side of the goal off a long free kick from Owen Myers (Spring Grove, PA/Spring Grove). But the Bearcats took the win as Speretta scored their third goal on a penalty kick at 86:27.
The Bearcats finished with a 15-10 advantage in shot attempts and a 5-0 edge in corner kicks.
Penn State Altoona men's soccer returns to action on Saturday, September 9, playing its last game of the homestand against Waynesburg at 3 p.m.
