Men’s Soccer Earns Postseason Berth
Three late unanswered goals, Robles-Flores hat trick seal 4–2 road win over Penn State Hazleton
Penn State York Men's Soccer punched its ticket to the postseason with a 4–2 road win at Penn State Hazleton on Sunday, Oct. 21. With a Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) playoff berth on the line, York relied on three goals in a 10-minute stretch late in the second half to seal the win.
Carlos Robles-Flores (Spring Valley Academy / Mexico City) recorded a hat trick in the comeback victory. The sophomore opened the scoring just a minute before halftime on an unassisted breakaway, but then York saw the home team go ahead with two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
Robles-Flores responded with his second goal of the match in the seventy-fourth minute, when substitute Shen Chen (Quanzhou #5 / Fujian, China) dropped a back pass to the forward, who smashed it home and brought the game level. Just a minute later, Cole Wentz (Dover / Dover, Pennsylvania) collected a turnover and curled in a shot from an amazing 30 yards out that turned out to be the game winner. With Hazleton pushing upfield for an equalizer, Robles-Flores scored on an empty net from midfield with six minutes to play, effectively putting the game out of reach and sending York to the postseason.
York was outshot by Hazleton, 25–12, but Maksim Zingman (Ridgewood / Minsk, Belarus) recorded 10 saves in goal to get the win.
Penn State York finishes the regular season with a 4-5-2 record overall, going 4-3-2 and PSUAC play. #5 seed York travels to Breisinger Field in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, to take on #4 Penn State Greater Allegheny in the opening round of the PSUAC playoffs at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24. The two teams played to a 0–0 draw, even after overtime, a week and a half ago in York on Saturday, Oct. 13.