M. Soccer crushed in nation's capital

WASHINGTON -- American junior Ignacio Tirado seemed to appear out of nowhere to land a goal just 47 seconds into yesterday's game. Shocked by the early blow, the Penn men's soccer team never recovered, losing 5-1. The Quakers casually loped onto the field in the early seconds and paid dearly for their lack of concentration. American took control of the ball from the outset. "It looked to me when we got on the field that the other team was better mentally prepared," coach George O'Neill said. Tirado's brutal wake up call brought junior Pat Brannigan and freshman Bradley Copeland off the Quaker bench. Midfielder Brannigan was instrumental in waking up the offense. Just as Penn started to open its drowsy eyes, the Eagles capitalized on a corner kick at 11 minutes, 56 seconds. Sophomore Domenick Alberto slipped the ball past four Penn defenders and junior goaltender Andrew Kralik to put American up by two. "They had two goals because of a lack of concentration," O'Neill said. "We had more than enough bodies down there to defend and no one took charge. Then the penalty kick broke the camel's back." While trying an aggressive tackle, sophomore Alan Waxman found himself toppled to the ground -- hand on the ball. In a controversial call, the referee called for a penalty kick after the ball was kicked into Waxman by an American player. Eagle senior Andrew Graham easily landed the penalty shot, dealing a third blow. Penn set up plays nicely, but was unable to follow through with a score on many opportunities throughout the game. They took two obstructed penalty shots and had several other chances on goal which were easily deflected by American defensmen. "In a game like that when you are behind, you have to capitalize on your chances, because there may not be many more," Brannigan said. While the Quakers were hesitant handling the ball, the Eagles, with an experienced core of seniors and talented freshman, were quick to react to every maneuver. "We took too long to make up our minds," O'Neill said. "That team looked much sharper getting to the ball. We had opportunities but we didn't quite take them. We thought we had it covered -- we didn't." Despite strong defensive play by junior Matt Stern and Waxman, American was red hot and scored again at 35:41. American senior Adam Dodge steered to Kralik's left. When Kralik dove in that direction, the net was open for American freshman Scott Pearson's slam to the right. The first half proved very disappointing for Penn. Down by four after a sluggish 45 minutes of play, just keeping the game respectable would be the Quakers' second half objective. The second half by itself would have made a dignified game. Junior co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz led the Quakers in a more aggressive effort to regain some pride. Penn began to share control of the ball, and created several scoring opportunities. Junior Pat Larco had many unfinished attempts at goal until he passed the ball to Marcinkiewicz, who netted Penn's only goal in the 67th minute. "Steve had a very good second half," O'Neill said. "He took control of the field." At 73:15, Graham scored again for American in a play identical to that of teammates Dodge and Pearson at the end of the first half. It had been 10 days since the Quakers' last game, a long time for a soccer team in season to go without a competitive contest. With several injured players, practices were not complete the week before. "We played the way we practiced -- you could see it was not good," Marcinkiewicz said. "It was not for a lack of effort, the roots of the problem were in practice. They finished their chances, we didn't." The Quakers would rather forget what happened yesterday. But this game counts in their overall record and its lessons will count in future contests. Not only were they unable to convert the chances they created on the field, most disappointing was their inability to tap into the talent they have been honing in the preseason. Penn's Ivy League season begins Sunday at Dartmouth and the Quakers have a lot to prove.