McGinnis | Men's soccer picking up where they left off

Penn men’s soccer answered all of the questions this weekend.

And though the team also opened up some new ones — where was the defense early against CCSU? How many good opportunities does it take to score a goal? — it also emphatically answered the one question hanging over the team this off-season.

How would the Quakers deal with the loss of such a strong senior class?

After all, last year’s seniors seemed irreplaceable by the end of the season, both from their presence on the field and off it as the leaders of the team. From starting backs Jonny Dolezal and Nicky Yin to the Kinn brothers and Stephen Baker, the team had plenty of personalities in their senior class.

So when the team moved on to its practices in the spring, there was clearly a void to be filled on and off the field.

And against Drexel, it became evident from the first whistle — when three freshman were in the team’s starting eleven — that this was a Quakers team that was already thinking towards the future.

“I thought the first-year players that came on did great, obviously Austin Kuhn and Levi [Levenfiche] got their first goals, but quietly Sam Wancowicz was strong at the back,” coach Rudy Fuller said.

Though the Quakers were starting a few new players, the real fireworks started flying when the reserves started coming in in the early second half. Freshman midfield Austin Kuhn found his way into the game in the 46th minute, and in the 53rd Kuhn found the back of the net for his first career goal and the first goal of Penn’s season.

One big question mark for the team was the offensive depth with Baker gone and not a forward to be found in the freshman class. Though Kuhn and freshman back Luka Martinovic – who contributed an assist in the second game of the weekend – showed that their class certainly have the ability to create opportunities for the team, some of the best play came from the second unit of forwards against Drexel.

The Quakers boast one of the best pairings of forwards in the Ivy League in sophomore Alec Neumann and senior Duke Lacroix, yet when they were pulled for Levenfiche and senior Mariano Gonzalez-Guerineau the team didn’t lack in offense particularly.

With the pair in, Penn scored both of their goals against Drexel and still seemed effective in producing goal-scoring opportunities.

Goal-scoring was never an issue for the Quakers in their championship campaign as the team put up a league-high 12 goals in conference games. Fuller and his coaching staff have to be happy with the output, though obviously the defense will have to shore up for later team success.

One of the revelations of last season’s championship run was the performance of then-sophomore goalie Max Polkinhorne. While he was solid in both games this weekend — only truly responsible for two of the goals given up — Penn can’t expect to win every game where it gives up three goals.

So while there are certainly a number of kinks for Penn to work out in their pursuit of the Ivy League title, opening weekend dissipated any fears that the Quakers were going to falter from their turnover this offseason.

The upcoming weekend places the Red and Blue in a pair of incredibly tough games against ranked opponents, where any sign of early season jitters will be deadly.

If the Quakers can clean up their defense and better convert their opportunities, they should pose stiff opponents to both Seattle and Washington. At the very least, their offense, fresh with new faces, should be able apply the pressure.

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