St. Joe's turfbeat M. Soccer

What is it? It comes with the eighth wonder of the world and is kiwi-green. Franklin Field has some and so does Veterans Stadium. It played an integral role in the Penn soccer team's 2-0 defeat at the hands of St. Joseph's on Friday. What is it? Astroturf. "Turf sucks," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "I can't believe that a Division I school like St. Joe's has turf. No school should play on turf – for soccer, turf sucks." Unfortunately for the Quakers (0-1), St. Joe's plays all of its home games on artificial turf, a poor substitute for the usual natural grass. So when Penn played the Hawks (3-0-1) it had two opponents to battle – St. Joe's and the turf. The advantages of playing on ones home field could not have been more apparent than on Friday. The Hawks utilized their knowledge of their home turf, and tailored their game to suit the faster artificial surface. In addition to the surface, the field was smaller, which changed the way Penn approached the game. The Quakers believe that the outcome of the game may have been different if they had faced off on grass. "[St. Joe's] style suits the turf they have there," Kammersgaard said. "They smack the ball all over the place, using the turf and heading the ball downfield. They don't try to play and they don't know how to control the ball. Instead, they try to go out and hit the ball as hard as they can and hopefully someone will get it down far enough to get a chance on goal. That's how they play and hope to win. "They are a good turf team, but they are not the same caliber on grass. They would not have beaten us on grass." To prepare for the change of surfaces, the Quakers abandoned their normal practice field, and opted to practice at Franklin Field in order to get accustomed to the turf. However, the few practices could not prepare Penn for the game against St. Joe's. "It helps to prepare, but [St. Joe's] is a better turf team," sophomore sweeper Greg Sexton said. "They prepare and play everyday on the turf, and our few days of practices are just not enough." The Hawks and Quakers were deadlocked in a scoreless game at the end of the first half, but things changed in the second half. St. Joe's scored two goals in the final 15 minutes, including a penalty shot which was a result of a questionable handball foul against Penn. It would be unfair to blame the loss entirely on the change of venue though. The Quakers still had many opportunities to score, and in fact were worthy adversaries against the run-'n-gun Hawks. Penn missed a great opportunity in the first half to get on the board when a backpass to the Hawks' goalie was intercepted by Penn sophomore Patrick Larco and then centered to a charging Mike Singleton. Unfortunately for the Quakers, the junior forward could not convert. "It was a golden opportunity," senior captain Mike Gomez said. "It would have totally changed the game if we could have converted the chance. We need to learn how to get those so we can get some scores." The Quakers acknowledge that they were still green from the lack of game experience. While St. Joe's already had a few games under its belts, Penn was in only its first regular season game, and did not play up to expectations. "They were more game-fit than we were," Kammersgaard said. "We are fit physically, but we are not match-fit. We had five or six legitimate chances to score before St. Joe's even scored their first goal. And after that we had another two or three chances and it just didn't happen. It's just one of those things." Penn also realized that during small intervals of the game, it was not focused on its opponent, which on the faster turf could result in quick scores. Although the effort was present, the focus was not. "Many times, the only way to score on turf is if a team makes a mistake," Gomez said. "And we made the mistakes which allowed St. Joe's to score." "There was nothing wrong with the team effort, we all gave 100 percent, we just need to stop the mistakes," Kammersgaard said. "We struggled in the two areas that you can't struggle in if you want to win – concentration and execution. We could have scored and prevented them from scoring if we did these things." The turf was cruel and the loss was tough. There are probably many things on the Quakers' minds, one of them probably being the astroturf, and how they could do without it. Sure it is part of the eighth wonder of the world. But will wonders never cease?