College coaches often try to recruit players close to home. But one got away from Northwestern head coach Tim Lenahan.
The Wildcats’ first-year coach didn’t have the opportunity to nab current Penn State freshman Chad Severs, who grew up down the street from Lenahan’s home in Ocean City, N.J.
“I’ve known him since he was a little kid,” said Lenahan, who had been at the helm of Lafayette College in the Patriot League before joining the Cats. “He’s just a good player. He makes good decisions and has maturity and a good work ethic.”
In his first season at Penn State, Severs has started all seven of the Nittany Lions’ games, tallying two goals and three assists.
While in high school, Severs came within two goals of tying Tab Ramos for the New Jersey state scoring record. Ramos currently plays for Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
The Cats (0-6-2, 0-3 Big Ten) will face one of their toughest tests of the season today in Severs and the rest of the No. 19 Nittany Lions, including Ricardo Villar and Derek Potteiger, both All-Americans.
“(Penn State is) very good,” Lenahan said. “But that’s the nature of the beast. We’ll just give them hell.
“This is maybe their best team in the last 10 years. It’s going to be a difficult challenge.”
Penn State (5-2, 1-1) will be eager to avenge last Friday’s 3-1 loss to No. 6 Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.
After facing the Nittany Lions, the Cats return home Sunday to take on Western Illinois (3-5-1).
“They’re a non-Big Ten opponent so we’ll have to come out firing,” Lenahan said.
The Leathernecks have won their last two matches and face Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis at home today.
Western Illinois has scored 14 goals in its nine matches, as opposed to NU’s five in eight games. Each of the Cats’ goals this season have been scored by a different player.
Despite the still-winless season, the Cats have shown improvement on the field, especially in their last match, against Michigan State.
NU maintained a scoreless tie with the Spartans until the 89th minute, when it allowed the only goal of the match. Still, Lenahan walked away with something to show off for a few of his most important visitors.
While continuing to focus on this season, Lenahan is thinking about the future of the program and his recruiting efforts, as he has to compete against Duke, Princeton and Stanford. Although Severs isn’t available, NU had a number of other recruits in the stands to watch the Michigan State game.
“The effort (the players) gave on Sunday painted a good picture for the nine recruits that were there,” Lenahan said. “We have to build the foundation and now we can start to move forward.
“It’s not just about this game.”
For the immediate future, Lenahan is working with the team on its play in the last third of the game – the Cats’ downfall against the Spartans.
“We’ve had five consecutive efforts where we’ve defended well,” he said, suggesting the team is ready to start working on its offense.
Part of the reason Lenahan can focus on offense is the unexpected stability in net.
Freshman Ryan Pederson has handled the goalkeeping duties, with a .794 save percentage and a 1.62 goals against average.
Sophomore goalkeeper Adam Grossman – the expected starter – was injured in preseason and has not yet fully recovered.
Even though he has never played in a college game, Grossman is likely to see some action before the end of the season, whenever he is healthy.
“After (Grossman) gets his playing time, we’ll evaluate the situation,” Lenahan said.
The inexperience doesn’t just affect the goalies.
Only seven players on the 22-member squad have witnessed an NU victory.
But the lack of wins – the last one was Nov. 12, 1999, in the first round of the Big Ten tournament – hasn’t caused Lenahan to accept the defeats.
“I think we’re going to win Friday, Sunday and next week against Indiana,” Lenahan said. “I don’t like to lose.”
