Another home game against a Florida team. Another red card. Another loss. At least the Quakers are consistent.
Off the back of an overtime defeat to Florida Gulf Coast on Friday, Penn (2-6) fell 2-0 to Florida International University (4-4) on Sunday.
The Red and Blue made a slow start to the match, allowing FIU freshman Luis Betancour to put the away side up, 1-0, in the 20th minute.
The next 40 minutes were very even, as Penn gained a foothold in the match. But then another big decision by the referee altered how the Quakers would play.
In both of this weekend games, the Red and Blue went down a man after having a player sent off. On Friday, it was senior Stephen Baker who was shown a red card after receiving two yellows. On Sunday, it was sophomore Alex Murphy’s turn.
In the 60th minute, Murphy went in late on one of FIU’s midfielders with a crunching slide tackle. The referee deemed the challenge as reckless and showed the Penn midfielder a straight red.
Despite the disadvantage of playing 10 vs. 11, the Quakers actually created their best chances of the game after Murphy saw red.
Junior Louis Schott would have had a great goal if it weren’t for the fingertips of the FIU goalkeeper, and freshman Alec Neumann nearly had a breakaway that was stopped by a last-ditch effort from the Panthers defenders.
But Penn’s efforts to get an equalizer were put to rest by FIU junior Quentin Albrecht, who slotted home following a swift Panthers counterattack to make the score 2-0.
The loss brings the Red and Blue’s losing streak to six games. This week, Penn will host Drexel on Wednesday and open their Ivy League campaign versus Cornell on Saturday at Rhodes Field.
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