BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – It took nearly 82 minutes for a team to score during Bloomsburg's non-conference men's soccer game against Caldwell at Steph Pettit Stadium on Thursday evening, and it was a successful penalty kick by Olly Whitham (Clitheroe, Lancashire, England/Settle College) that would go on to be the difference maker as the graduate student's goal lifted the Huskies to a 1-0 victory. 
 
Whitham, who was selected to take the penalty kick after his teammate Liam Harmon (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area) was fouled in the box, delivered the score by striking a hard-kicked ball on the ground that slid past a diving Caldwell goalkeeper and ricocheted into the goal after hitting the left post.
 
Bloomsburg (3-0, 0-0 PSAC East) held on for the victory as it was able to hold Caldwell (0-3, 0-0 CACC) scoreless for the remainder of the game to capture the shutout win. Holding the edge in possession time throughout the contest and a few big stops by goalkeeper Brady Rimple (Cherryville, Pa./Northampton Area) in one-on-one situations kept the Cougars off the scoreboard. Rimple finished with three clutch saves as Caldwell rattled off a total of seven shots throughout the contest. 
 
The Huskies' goal was a long time coming as they finished the night with a total of 19 shots. An excellent game by Caldwell goalkeeper Jalen Folsom and some near-missed shots by Husky players played a big factor in keeping the game at 0-0 for nearly 82 minutes. Folsom finished the game with nine huge saves, and he was inches away from getting a hand on Whitham's perfectly placed penalty kick. Of Bloomsburg's 19 shots, 10 were on target as the team possessed the ball during 55% of the game.
 
A handful of other scoring Husky scoring opportunities were negated due to offside calls. Bloomsburg had a total of five offside calls in the first half and finished with six for the game, and Caldwell was called for offsides once in each half.  
 
Nine different players accounted for Bloomsburg's 10 shots on goal as Anthony Schlee (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) was the only Husky player to send the ball on target twice. Schlee finished with a team-high four shots and came close to breaking the stalemate with his shot attempts. 
 
On top of winning the shots category, Bloomsburg edged Caldwell in corner kicks, 6-2.
 
A total of 24 fouls were called in the contest and four yellow cards were distributed, three of which were given to Caldwell.
 
Bloomsburg will have a six-day break until its next game, which will be at Holy Family University on Wednesday, September 7. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 PM.