Men’s Soccer Overcomes Penn State, 3-1

Sunday, August 23

Springfield

7:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

2-0-0, 0-0-0

Penn State

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Penn St.	1	0	1
Missouri St.	1	2	3

Men’s Soccer Overcomes Penn State, 3-1

August 23, 2026 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Teodora Jovic

SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State men's soccer rallied for three unanswered goals here Sunday to secure a 3-1 scoreline over visiting Penn State in front of an electric home crowd at Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium.

"The crowd was amazing," stated head coach Michael Seabolt after the win. "It was amazing to get the tailgate together and allow this to happen [and have] an amazing crowd with so many supporters. The crowd really brought us through. We were down a goal and the crowd brought us some energy and they made the difference for sure."

The Bears (2-0) overcame an early 1-0 deficit before scoring three unanswered goals in the span of just over seven minutes to secure their second home win of the season.

The first half opened up with aggressive play from both teams pushing forward and creating opportunities to score. However, it was Penn State's Luca Sowinski that found the back of the net first in the 18th minute.

But the Bears roared back in the final minutes of the half, finally breaking through the Penn State defense with 5th year Kei Kinoshita sliding into a beautiful goal set up with a cross from senior Alex Rodriguez.

It was straight out of the gate for Mo State once the Bears hit the field in the second half, adding two more goals to the board.

In the 46th minute junior Victor Wachowicz leapt to score an incredible header from an assist by 5th year Adrián Esteban.

In the 51st minute, 5th year Diego Real seized an opportunity presented by a penalty kick, placing the ball in the bottom left of the net to secure the victory for the Bears.

"I think the main thing is just to remember the principles that we work on each day and the goals that we're trying to achieve," said captain Harris O'Connor. "We can't let those [negative] moments define us, so it's important to have that mentality and always fight back and [tonight] we showed that pretty much instantly. We didn't let it [the first goal] affect us and [now] on to the next one."

Missouri State ended the night with 13 shots with six on goal, while the Nittany Lions shot six shots with four on goal. The Bears tallied eight corner kicks while the Nittany Lions collected two. Both Mo State and Penn State made three saves each.

The Bears are back in action for their next match on Sunday, August 30, at 6:30 p.m. to compete against Chicago State once again at Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium. Admission is free all season long.

#GoBears