Penn State junior defender Michael Collodi is in London, England, participating in a tournament this week. The Nittany Lions host Old Dominion Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Rec Hall. They close out their home schedule Wednesday at Nebraska. Collodi has been a steady defender and key player in the Nittany Lions’ backline this season and a regular for U-17 and U-18 national team camps this year, including the Concacaf Championships in Mexico, where the Americans did not advance out of the group stage. The 5-foot-10, 155-pound native of Medford, Mass., played in every U-19 and U-20 camp this year, including a 1-0 win over Canada and a 1-0 win over Costa Rica. He and his teammates lost to Brazil 1-0 in their final U-20 camp game. While in London, he played in two matches against England’s U-17 and U-18 teams and tied one game and lost the other. He started all three games for the U.S. U-17s and played 90 minutes against England, France and Mexico, along with his team's 4-0 win against Germany. Collodi moved to the Nittany Lions after playing four years at Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. The left-footed defender was a finalist for the 2015 Bob Gansler Award, given to the best soccer player in Pennsylvania. He is from the same high school as Penn State senior defender Tyler Deric, who is in his third season as a starter at left back for the United States. Collodi is the only player in Nittany Lion history to play every minute of every match in his freshman season at any level. He played every minute at left back from August until he was injured during the NCAA Tournament last year. Collodi started 14 games for Penn State in 2015 before injuring his knee in late-July during a scrimmage. He returned to play one more game, but his injury kept him from playing for the U.S. U-17 team and for the National Premier Leagues team in the fall. He returned in late-January and was named to the 2015 All-American roster before an injury stopped him again at the end of the first half against Maryland. He returned and started in six straight matches after that, though he was also injured against Rutgers in early-February. He then started all four games in the NCAA Tournament, where the Nittany Lions finished sixth. He had an assist and two shots in two matches during the tournament. “Michael is a tremendous defender with a fantastic soccer brain. He will be important to our team’s success this year,” Nittany Lions coach Ray Leone said after the team returned from England. “He was injured when the team had great momentum and he was crucial to getting us back to national prominence. We are lucky to have Michael back in the mix this year and look forward to his return in 2016.” In 2014, Collodi played with the NorCal NPL club from Northern California in the United States Adult Soccer Association. The NPL is the highest tier of youth soccer in the country, below only the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Penn State is 17-4-2 with five ties over its last 13 matches, including 5-1-1 at home over that span. The Nittany Lions’ next match is Saturday at Nebraska at 11 a.m. Eastern time in Lincoln, Neb. Contact the writer: tbosse@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2080, @tonyb99 http://citizen-times.com/mobile/home_news/sports/college/penn-state-football/spt-mlb-team-and-student-athletes-in-rush-to-enroll