M. Soccer hopes to halt skid

BY SALIM MITHABY SALIM MITHADaily Pennsylvanian Sports Writer Tomorrow, the Penn men's soccer team will square off against Brown (1-3 Ivy League, 6-4 overall) at 11 a.m. at Rhodes Field. Unfortunately for the Quakers, of the two teams they are the ones that have been heading south of late, and they will be the underdogs against Brown. Penn (0-3, 4-6) has lost four of its last five games, with its only win coming against the lowly Explorers of La Salle. The Quakers are also currently mired in a season-long three-game losing streak. Furthermore, Penn has only scored one goal in its last three games, while at the same time surrendering 10 scores to the opposition. "We just have not been playing well the last three games," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "People weren't doing their jobs and we couldn't get any momentum going – there was no continuity. We were unmotivated." Meanwhile, the Bears are experiencing a resurgence of sorts after a slow and mediocre start. Brown has emerged on the national soccer scene by disposing of two nationally-ranked teams, namely No. 2 Virginia and No. 10 North Carolina last weekend at the Lanzera Sheraton Classic in Charlottesville, Va. For their stellar performance, the Bears are now the 19th-ranked team in the nation. Brown could not have done it without the Ivy League Player of the Week and their second leading scorer, sophomore midfielder Shaun Harkin. Against the Tar Heels, Harkin rallied the Bears back from a 1-0 halftime deficit by scoring Brown's only goals of the game, both coming in the second-half. Against the host Cavaliers, Harkin played a solid game, but he needed help from the team's other deadly weapon, top scoring junior forward Darren Eales, who is also the fifth-leading scorer in the Ivy League. To top off all the good news for the Bears, Brown also figures to jump in this week's New England region rankings, where last week it occupied the 10th slot. On the other hand the Quakers are down, but not quite out. At the crucial part of the schedule, Penn has been falling apart and has not been able to put together a unified effort Coming off disappointing losses to Lafayette, American and Harvard, the Quakers have come to the realization that, as the resident Ivy cellar dwellers, they will not be making a bid for the league title. However, they remain upbeat about the possibility of salvaging whatever remains of the season. "All is not lost," Kammersgaard said. "There are still five games left in the season and we could still end up with a winning record." "At this point, all we can do is have a little pride in ourselves and salvage the season," senior forward Kossouth Bradford said. "We are going to try to make something out of our season and in the process try to ruin other teams' seasons." The Bears realize that they cannot underestimate the Quakers if they want to replicate the recent successes they have had on the field. At the same time, Brown is anxious to see how they will perform now that they have a national ranking. "Penn has always been a tough opponent," Brown assistant coach Todd Bramble said. "Because of this, I think winning this game is a matter of coming out and imposing our style of play upon [the Quakers] – to not let them set their own rhythm and their own pace of the game. We want to be the dictators and make [Penn] adjust to our style. "Still, it's going to be interesting – the Penn game will be an indication to see how our guys handle the success we have had. We will need to maintain our composure and play to our capabilities if we want to remain ranked." Penn feels that it is the underdog coming into this game, and that it can use this as a positive asset in upsetting the Bears and catching them off guard. "They are probably laughing it up and taking us for granted," Bradford said. "We need to surprise them, catch them off guard, and hopefully we can sneak out a win." Everyone will soon find out if the underdog Quakers will respond to the challenge, or if they will just roll over and play dead. · On Wednesday, the Quakers lost to Lafayette (7-5-1) by a final count of 4-1. This loss marked the third-straight defeat for Penn. The Quakers ran into a hot Lafayette team that was on a roll. Following a 7-0 drubbing of Rider and after blanking Lehigh 4-0, the Leopards pounced all over the porous Penn defense for four goals, three of them coming in the second half. The Quakers admit that they were not focused or prepared for the game, which was apparent by the score. The anemic Penn offense squandered many opportunities, and could only manage one goal. Penn is hoping that it is not slipping back into the mediocrity that has plagued it in the past. "Sometimes you become accustomed to losing," Bradford said. "That was one of our problems in the past few years. We didn't think we could win, and eventually that mentality would make us lose games. "This year it seemed to be different – we seem to be more confident. But, in the last few games we have lost that edge and we have regressed back into that losing state of the past."