Penn State men’s soccer looking to upset nation’s top team, defending National Champions in 2024 opener

Penn State men’s soccer kicks off its season Thursday evening against preseason No. 1 and defending National Champion Clemson. The Nittany Lions will be traveling down to South Carolina to take on the top-ranked Tigers at the Historic Riggs Field.

Penn State men’s soccer looking for redemption

It was a weak season for the Big Ten conference in 2023. Penn State finished second in the regular season standings behind Indiana and eventually fell to the Hoosiers 1-0 in the Big Ten Tournament Finals.

Despite a 10-4-5 (4-2-2) record, the Nittany Lions were left out of the NCAA Tournament. It was a shocking end to what had been a great season for head coach Jeff Cook and Penn State men’s soccer.

Now in 2024, the Nittany Lions will try to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season.

A difficult opener

© Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State men’s soccer couldn’t have scheduled a tougher opening game for the 2024 season. Not only do the Nittany Lions take on the defending National Champions and preseason No. 1 team, but they also travel to Clemson on the night on the Tigers’ 2023 title celebration. It will certainly be a tough atmosphere and a good gauge to see where Jeff Cook’s squad stands.

This game feels like a direct response to the Nittany Lions getting left out of the NCAA Tournament in 2023 due to a weak schedule. Adding Clemson to the schedule shouldn’t hurt with a loss, but a win will do monumental things for the season if Penn State can pull off the road upset.

Penn State will face three ranked teams in 2024: at No. 1 Clemson, at No. 7 Indiana, and versus No. 21 UCLA. If the Nittany Lions can pull off the upset in the opener, it would set them up for a possible return to the NCAA Tournament if they also can take care of business against the other unranked teams on their schedule.

Things have been going in the right direction since head coach Jeff Cook took over the program in 2018. Penn State men’s soccer has gone 54-31-15 (29-11-8), including winning the Big Ten in 2021 and making the NCAA Tournament three times from 2019-2021.  The Nittany Lions were recently selected to finish second in the Big Ten preseason coaches poll behind defending conference champion Indiana. 

Thursday’s season opener versus the Clemson Tigers starts at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ACC network.

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