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Footballers
As the soccer season begins, the men's and women's teams have a combined six players ranked in the top 100 by TopDrawerSoccer.com. One player not on the list for the men's team, Matt Bersano, won the B1G Defensive player of the week honor for his work versus Navy.
It was a brutal match against the Midshipmen, with searing heat at Jeffrey Field. The visiting Navy team is in the best physical condition of any team in the country, and the Lions had to dig deep for the tie.
On the women's side, the #6 ranked Lions took care of Arkansas, 4-2, on a pair of goals by Megan Shafer.
The women's team will take on West Virginia in Morgantown on Friday night at 7 p.m. and the men travel to Ambler, Pa. where the team will face Temple on the road Friday at 4:30 p.m..
Football
The Big Ten Network released the pre-season power rankings. Can you believe PSU is ranked 7th? That is going to change when we take down OSU on the road.
The football season kicks off in earnest tomorrow night with a pair of B1G teams in action. Michigan will face Utah at 8:30 p.m.. Check out this lengthy look into new coach Harbaugh's place in Michigan football. Minnesota will host #2 TCU at 9 p.m. on Thursday as well.
Michigan State will play on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN U versus Western Michigan. Connor Cook was disappointed earlier this week when he was not named as one of the team's three captains.
Ohio State released the first depth chart of the season. Braxton Miller is listed as the starting H-back and also the starting punt returner. The Buckeyes play on Monday night in a rematch of its lone loss last season vs Virginia Tech.
Hockey
Student tickets for the 2015-16 season go on sale on Thursday. This short video will give you a reminder of how awesome the atmosphere is inside of Pegula Ice Arena.
The bench boss loves @TheRoarZone. Thursday is your chance to join. --> http://t.co/25Xd8WKZZh #WeAre #HockeyValley
— Penn State Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) August 31, 2015
Former Lion captain Patrick Koudys has signed on to play with the Indy Fuel of the ECHL. The Fuel are affiliated with the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Koudys' father played minor league hockey in Indianapolis from 1984-1986 with the Indianapolis Checkers of the IHL. Koudys joins Casey Bailey as the only two former Lion hockey players currently active in professional hockey.
Former Lion goalie PJ Musico earned the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award. Check out this article honoring Hines, the former Army hockey player who died in combat ten years ago this week in Afghanistan.
The hockey team will begin play this season with an exhibition game versus Windsor in just 32 days.
Women's Volleyball
Russ Rose's team played well this weekend, grabbing the Penn State Classic volleyball tournament title in State College. This weekend it will host #2 Stanford and also a tough #21 Colorado squad in Rec Hall.
The team is currently ranked #1 in the early-going of the season. It is likely that the winner of the match on Saturday night versus Stanford will be the top team in the country next week. The match will be aired on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m. and will likely be one of the more watched events in non-conference play this year.
Redshirt freshmen setter Bryanna Weiskircher played well in the Penn State Classic and is trying to fill the gaping hole left by the graduation of Micha Hancock. Zach Green of the Daily Collegian wrote a great in-depth article concentrating on the challenge of replacing one of the greatest players in Penn State history.
Fall Sports Are Back, Life Is Good
After a brutal five month break, PSU sports are back in full force. The days are getting shorter. Soon the heat will back off giving way to the crisp, clean fall air that signifies what is commonly called 'football weather.' We made it. In a month PSU hockey will be skating around inside Pegula Ice Arena. Soon after that Pat Chambers and Cael Sanderson will be leading their teams in meaningful games.
How good is life right about now? I'll tell you how good it is. It's really good. We have the entire PSU sports season ahead of us. The world is our Royster, our sports event cup will soon runneth over with games to watcheth. It makes SWH want to put on some hip, trendy music that the kids are listening to today and party like it's the dawn of the 2015-16 sports calendar.