Scranton Lions Soccer Drops Season Opener

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On Thursday afternoon, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lions men's soccer team lost their 2024 season debut by a 3-0 margin to non-conference foe the Bucks County Community College Centurions.

After both ball clubs were held scoreless in the first half of play, the hometown Centurions had an offensive explosion in the second half, outscoring the Lions 3-0 in the contest's final 45-minutes to capture their commanding three goal triumph when the final buzzer sounded. Bucks County finally got on the scoreboard at the 63:26 mark when freshman midfielder Raphael Fernandes lit the lamp, assisted by fellow freshman Michael Sayon Jr. Then about ten minutes later at 73:29 the Centurions would find the back of the net once again, this time on an unassisted goal coming off the foot of freshman forward Levi Morris. For Bucks County's third and final tally, Fernandes would score his second goal of the match, assisted by Morris at the 79:58 mark to give his club the three score cushion they would enjoy by game's end.

On the goal keeping side of things, Bucks County was led by their sophomore net minder Mohammed Samim Poya who earned the hard earned shutout victory between the pipes going the distance playing all 90-minutes in goal and stopping all six Scranton shots on net.

In total, Scranton was out shot by the Centurions by a slim 16-12 margin and Bucks County led in saves 6-4 on the day. However, the road warrior Lions did lead in corner kicks 5-4.

Now head coach Robert Denney and his 0-1 Penn State Scranton Lions men's soccer squad will look to bounce back and capture their first victory of the young season when they have their home opener on the pitch scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday afternoon against non-league foe York College/CUNY, with kick-off set for a 4pm start time.