IU wins big at Penn State, 3-1

On Sunday the IU men’s soccer team played their second Big Ten match of the season on the road against Penn State.

The match was just about over before it even really started as the Hoosiers used a first-half surge to take a 3-1 victory.

IU opened the scoring in the 15th minute as Joris Ahlinvi found a cross from Simon Waever in the box and headed it home.

Just a few minutes later Aidan Morrs took a free kick, finding A.J. Palazzolo for a header that beat the keeper making it 2-0.

In the 24th minute Spencer Glass put the cherry on top of a strong first half, taking a pass from Morris and shooting an absolute rocket into the bottom corner of the goal.

In the 55th minute Penn State managed to get on the board, but it was too little, too late for the Nittany Lions.

Following his strong performance Morris was named to Top Drawer Soccer’s Team of the Week alongside teammate Maouloune Goumballe. Morris was also named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week.

Three Things

1. Joris Ahlinvi

The FIU transfer made his official debut in this match as he returned from an injury and it didn’t take long for him to show why fans should be excited to have him in the lineup moving forward. The creative midfielder took just under 15 minutes to score his first goal in the cream and crimson.

IU will surely hope that this will be the first of many for Ahlinvi as he gets comfortable in the lineup.

2. New Goalscorers

This team has a lot of different goal-scoring options. That’s been a common theme throughout the season thus far and was proven yet again on Sunday as all three goals were scored by players who hadn’t previously found the back of the net this season. It’s even more impressive when you consider that two of those players were Palazzolo and Glass, both of whom are mainstays in the lineup and considered to be rather important players.

3. Goalkeeping Situation

For the second match in a row it was freshman Roman Celentano starting between the posts for the Hoosiers and once again he looked solid. He replaced redshirt senior Sean Caulfield in the lineup for the Northwestern game and it seems as if he might be on his way to locking up the job full-time.

What’s Next?

The Hoosiers will host No. 16 Kentucky on Wednesday evening in one of their biggest matches of the year. They’ll kick off at 7 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.