Box Score Utica, N.Y. - The two squads at the top of the North Eastern Athletic Conference standings clashed earlier this afternoon when Penn State Abington travelled to New York to face off against the Wildcats of SUNYIT. Both sides held firm through much of the game before senior forward Marco Paparo broke the deadlock with his sixth goal of the year. The Nittany Lions fought back a vicious SUNYIT attack in the final stages to make that 1-0 lead last, and at the end of the day, it's the Blue and White who have climbed to the top of the NEAC mountain.

Penn State Abington (7-2, 3-0 NEAC), coming off a big 6-0 win yesterday against SUNY Cobleskill, struggled to get their attack going early against the hosts. SUNYIT (6-1-1, 3-1 NEAC), themselves having earned a six-goal win of their own, pressed forward early and often in the opening stages of the game. The Nittany Lions faced three shots and four corner kicks in the opening half while putting up just one shot themselves. However, the team held strong, led by senior goalkpeeper Dan Saint-Pol. The netminder made two first-half saves and five in the game en route to his second straight shutout effort. In the second half, the Nittany Lions offense started clicking better, as the Blue and White fired off six shots. In the 66th minute, Marco Paparo got as close as either team had in the game to that point, firing a rocket of a header that just caught the crossbar and bounced harmlessly away. That effort must have been all the prodding that was needed to propel Paparo and the offense to net the key goal. Just two minutes after his near-miss, Paparo once again got a free look at the goal and this time, the tall target man didn't miss.

Finding themselves down by a goal suddenly, SUNYIT made one final charge to get on the scoreboard, but the Nittany Lions defense was simply to stout for the Wildcats to do anything. In the end, Paparo's goal was enough, and Penn State Abington came away with the 1-0 win. With the victory, the Nittany Lions move to 7-2 on the season and keep their NEAC record unbeaten at 3-0. The team will once again have the week off before hosting a pair of NEAC games of their own, starting with a tilt against Morrisville State on Saturday. Gametime is set for 2:00 pm at Father Judge High School. Be sure to keep checking abingtonsports.com for all your Nittany Lions news and notes!