Lions Leap into Action on Home Turf

Men's Soccer celebrated a goal at home against PSU York on Tuesday night.
Men's Soccer celebrated a goal at home against PSU York on Tuesday night.
September 9, 2025
DUNMORE, Pa. - The Penn State Scranton men's soccer team rebounded from an 0 and two start to their  season with a pair of very positive results this week.
 
On September 5, the male booters bounced Bucks County CC 4-3 behind a pair of goals by sophomore midfielder turned center back Aiden Turner. Playing on their home grass field for the first time in 2025, the Lions roared to a 2-0 lead as Turner turned a short drop pass from freshman winger Aaron Juarez into a big score with a soaring shot from about 20 yards out midway through the first half. Fabrice 'Fab' Gatsinzi, the 2024 PSUAC Rookie of the Year then doubled the hometown heroes advantage with a sensational score and individual effort as he first darted past a Centurion defender and then beat the visitors' goalkeeper with a sweet shot.
 
Not to be denied, Bucks rallied to even the match at two early in the second stanza. But then the 'Dudes from Dunmore' done good as they regained their focus and control of the taut tilt by upping the pace of the play while maintaining possession of the ball. With the visitors scrambling to defend numerous attacks in their half of the field, they began to resort to grabbing the locals' jerseys and taking hard fouls.  Playing a restart deep in the Centurions' territory, the ball rolled to the aforementioned 'A A' A-ron and he sent a crisp cross towards the goal that sophomore winger Piero Parravinci headed home to give the good guys a 3-2 lead.  Moments later, Turner took center stage as he ripped home a loose ball in the box into the back of the net, following a sweet serve by the Lions' stalwart freshman back Justin Pegg, for what turned out to be the game winning goal.
 
Four days later, the local Lions leapt back into action, hosting PSU York in their first conference clash of the 2025 campaign. Following a scoreless first half in which PSU Scranton held an 8-5 advantage in shots and sophomore co-captain Jack Eisele and super soph Fab had a few great shots but couldn't cash in on any of their chances, the Hometown Heroes made a few tactical adjustments during the break while ratcheting up their resolve and it paid off. Just a few moments into the second stanza, Captain Jack sparrowed through the air and hammered home a beautiful long ball from Fab Fabrice to give PSU Scranton the lead. On the game winning goal, Jack was nimble, Jack was quick and Jack jumped over an imaginary candle stick as well as one of the visitor's defenders to score the tremendous tally as the entire team then celebrated with him at the corner flag.  Ten minutes later, the local Lions doubled their advantage as fantastic frosh Billy Hogan found the Great Gatsinzi in front of the visitors' goal and he belted the biscuit in the basket for a 2-0 lead. Just a few ticks of the clock later, the Penn State Scranton co-captains combined for the clinching goal as Capt. Will Nagy neatly stole the ball from a Penn State York defender deep in their end and sent a sweet set up along the baseline where the Eisele brother blasted the ball into the goal for an unsurmountable 3-0 advantage.
 
Just as crucial to the victory was the stellar play of sophomore goalkeepers Ryan "Smitty" Smith and Andy "Hoss" Haser,  backs Lawson Measic, Nagy, Turner and Pegg and defensive midfielders Tommy Buker, Hector Cabreja Rodriguez, Ryan Brescia and Brian Nguyen who man marked the visitors' leading scorer, Ben Zimmerman, the second leading scorer in the conference in 2024, and boisterous Brian held him to zero shots. Making the big 'Dub' even that much sweeter was that last season, PSU York finished in second place in the PSUAC standings while prevailing 6-3 over the local Lions.
 
Afterwards, a proud Coach Bob Denney congratulated his team for playing their best soccer of the season - so far -  while reminding the 'boys' that they will need to continue to raise their level of play if they want to achieve their goals for this season.