By: Hunter Strafaci, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, hvs5537@psu.edu  

Penn State Brandywine wins men’s soccer home opener, beating Dickinson 2-1.  

It took only 35 seconds for returning national champions, the Penn State Brandywine Lions, to score against Dickinson. Striker Chris Manful opened the scoring, latching on to a pass from Lex Smith and finding the back of the net, catching Dickinson by surprise so early into the game.   

The match would not be that simple, however. Chaz Smith equaled the score for Dickinson through a penalty kick, sending Brandywine goalkeeper Elijah DeBooth the wrong way, and calmly slotting the ball into the center of the net.  

Early in the second half, Brandywine captured the lead again, winning a penalty and getting their chance from the spot. Alexis Cordova Bernal tucked it away, beating Dickinson goalkeeper Andrew Kempe, to claim a 2-1 victory for Penn State Brandywine.  

Although not on the scoresheet, Ethan Harper won the man-of-the-match award. Harper, a second-year from Douglassville, Pennsylvania was indefatigable against Dickinson. Harper consistently found himself in space wide on the wings, terrorizing the Dickinson defense with penetrating runs and passes into the final third. He also worked incredibly hard on defense, consistently breaking up Dickinson’s play and thwarting chances.    

“First game of the season, tough opponent Dickinson, [we] came out crazy,” said Harper. “Of course we had to retaliate back win those 50/50balls and, you know, pull up with the quick goal, all in the first five minutes of the game, and we just kept fighting. They came back with that quick penalty, and then we got that other goal.”  

At one point in the game, Harper was subbed off and praised loudly and publicly by Head Coach Tom Greenawalt for his work rate on and off the ball.  

“When Coach is screaming at you on the sides, you know you gotta fight for it, you gotta fight for the people on the bench, you know? You just gotta keep pushing. We’re returning national champs and we wanna do it again; so that’s why we kept the intensity up.”  

Despite winning their first match, Brandywine will not be without their challenges this season. The squad is relatively inexperienced due to a turnover after last season, which was likely the cause of a scrappy and frantic game.   

In addressing the turnover, Harper said, “Well, as we’ve seen, today was a rough game. We need to calm down, need to distribute the ball more to the sides, and stay more compact. If we’re gonna play better teams and you know just keep the intensity up and keep on fighting, even harder.” 

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