Beaver shuts out York on Senior day, 6-0

By: Matylda Zamudio

BEAVER FALLS, Pa.—The Penn State Beaver men's soccer team earned another PSUAC match victory against conference rival Penn State York, 6-0, during Saturday afternoon's Senior day match. Senior Darrion Gilmore (New Brighton), senior Cory Mueller (Ambridge), senior Romaine Thompson (Philadelphia/Penn Wood), senior John Kazmierczyk (Conway/Quigley) and senior John Valiga (Ambridge) were recognized for their achievements and tenure on the team.

The Lions set the tone early against York, as freshman Grigorios Papachristos (Athens/Valley Christian) netted an early goal on a pass by senior John Valiga (Ambridge) at the eighth minute (1-0). While the games went scoreless for the next 14 minutes, Beaver did a great job of moving the ball and keeping York outside of its side of the field. Then at the 22nd minute, sophomore Danylo Yakymov (Kiev/Grand Private Lyceum) connected on a pass by freshman Chris Bohach (Conway/Freedom Area) straight into York's goaltender's hands that only inched past the line (2-0). Yakymov made his way to York's box once again at the 32nd minute and scored his second of back-to-back goals to give Beaver a 3-0 edge. Freshman Moucharaf Tchatikpi (Manhattan/Manhattan Center for Science & Math) rounded out the first-half scoring for Beaver at the 37-minute mark, as he took the feed from sophomore Devin DiLuca (Pittsburgh/Charters Valley) to build Beaver a comfortable 4-0 lead at halftime. 

Beaver continued to control the tempo of the game in the second period and kept York quiet offensively. Three minutes into the period, Yakymov made his way up the field and found senior John Kazmierczyk (Conway/Quigley), who banked the fifth goal for the Lions (5-0). Yakymov helped to deliver the final goal of the game, as he found an open Papachristos at the 59-minute mark, who earned his second goal of the game, as the Lions shut out York 6-0.

Papachristos led the way for Beaver today, who finished with two goals on three shots with three on goal, followed by Yakymov, finishing with two goals on eight shots with five on goal and two assists. Tchatikpi scored one goal on the one-shot he took with one on goal, and Kazmierczyk scored one goal on seven shots with two on goal. 

Beaver outshot York 50-0 and 7-2 on corner kicks.

After today's win, Beaver improves to 11-4 overall and is ranked second (7-1) in the PSUAC conference standings. The Lions will host PSUAC rival Penn State Wilkes-Barre in their final game of the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 20. The game begins at 2 p.m.