Box Score With 18 new players making up the 29-man roster for the 2014 Lancaster Bible men's soccer team, opening day against Penn St. Harrisburg would be an exercise in both playing soccer with each other and simply learning each other's names. The exercise was a success overall, but did not result in a victory as Penn St. Harrisburg spoiled the season opener with a 1-0 win at Charger Field. 

Jon Willingham's goal with 15:57 to play turned out to be the game winner as he headed home a corner kick from Austin Katz to give the Nittany Lions a one-goal victory. Penn St. Harrisburg controlled play for many parts of the first half, but the Chargers hung tough and began to control play themselves early in the second half. As play began to even out late in the second half, the Nittany Lions finally took advantage of one of their corners as Willingham got free off a set piece and headed home a cross from Katz into the lower left-hand corner of the goal.

Penn St. Harrisburg held a 10-4 advantage in corners as they had five in each half. The Chargers managed just four with three of them coming in the second half. Nittany Lions goalkeeeper Brandon Hoover will haunt Lancaster Bible's Bradley Wilcox's dreams tonight as he robbed Wilcox three times during the 90 minutes on Friday. 

The first opportunity came eight minutes into first half as he somehow got a touch on a great shot from Wilcox. The second came later in the half as Hoover raced out and blocked Wilcox who had gotten past the Nittany Lion defense. Hoover was at it again with 4:49 to play as he got a fingertip on Wilcox's shot and tipped over the goal.

Despite the loss, Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt was happy with the team's effort and is looking forward to having the team continue to mesh together.

"We've got guys who can play at a high level," Ardt said. "It is about putting the pieces together now and taking that raw ability and executing in all three areas of the field. I think myself and the team are very encouraged by today's game."

The Chargers will get their next crack to put it all together on Wednesday when they face Berkeley (N.J.) at 12 p.m. in Woodland Hills, N.J.