Box Score Philadelphia, Pa. – The Nittany Lions men's soccer squad sure has found ways to make their games exciting so far in 2013. The men defeated Penn State Brandywine earlier this evening by a 4-3 score in overtime, their third straight one-goal victory to open the season. Senior forward Marco Paparo scored two goals, including the game winner, to help Penn State Abington (3-0, 0-0 NEAC) to the come-from-behind victory.
 
Coming off of an 8-0 defeat to Eastern University to open their season, Penn State Brandywine (0-2, 0-0 PSUAC) jumped out of the gates early by taking a 1-0 lead just over thirty seconds into the game. With the ball deep in Abington's end, a pass from a defender was deflected straight into the path of Brandywine's Bill Walleekendeh. The lanky striker dribbled straight in on goal and slotted a ball past onrushing Abington keeper James Carlin to give the visitors their lead. However, Abington answered right back just three minutes later. After earning a free kick in the attacking end, Bryan Werner sent the ball into the box, where it found Jose Giron. The wide open forward got behind his defender and headed the ball solidly into the back of the net to knot the game up at 1-1.
 
After the early flurry of activity to open the match, the game settled into a midfield affair with both sides attacking and parrying, trying to maintain possession of the ball and build solid attacks. However, both defenses held firm, up until the 39^th minute, that is. At that point, a Brandywine forward got the ball all the way inside the left side of the penalty box, where he was tripped and subsequently awarded a penalty kick for his efforts. Frenc Baro stepped up to take the kick for the visitors and calmly curled the shot into the upper right corner to put Brandywine back in front 2-1.
 
When the second half opened, Abington brought on a handful of fresh faces in an effort to turn the momentum of the game around, and that moved proved brilliant when the home squad tied the game back up just three minutes into the half. With a quality attack building up into the Brandywine box, the ball was suddenly deflected right to Nittany Lions defender Wellay Asifuah. He took advantage of the opportunity, sending a shot past Brandywine keeper Nick Previti and into the net to make the score 2-2. However, once again Brandywine would come right back to take the lead with a goal of their own. In the 54^th minute, the visitors earned another free kick off an Abington foul. Baro stepped up once again and sent the ball into the penalty box where Bradley Jule got free and sent the ball into the back of the net for a 3-2 lead. The back-and-forth action continued fifteen minutes later, when Abington tied the game back up on Paparo's first goal of the match, a laser into the back of the net to make it a 3-3 score.
 
With neither side able to do anything over the remainder of regular time, the match hit overtime, already for the second time in three games for Penn State Abington. Fortunately for the home fans, the squad came through with yet another game-winner. Gustavo Alegria took possession of the ball in the midfield and sent a looping ball over the Brandywine back line. Paparo once again got free from his defender and this time headed the ball into the left side of the goal for the golden goal and Abington's third win of the season. With the win, Penn State Abington keeps their record clean at 3-0. The Nittany Lions now face their biggest non-conference game of the season when they hit the road this Saturday to take on the seventh-ranked team in the country, York College of Pennsylvania. Be sure to keep track of all your Penn State Abington news and notes at abingtonsports.com.