M. Soccer rides high

Penn beats Lehigh, 1-0 Bethlehem -- The ride home is a lot shorter when you're the winning team. Yesterday the Penn men's soccer team shut out Lehigh 1-0 in a hard-fought contest. The Engineers (1-7) were much improved from last year, and played tougher than the Quakers (2-2) had been expecting. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy," junior goaltender Andrew Kralik said. "They were fast, and they played really hard. They came out psyched up and they maintained that level of intensity through the whole match. We were down in their end for 10 to 15 minutes, but they still kept up the intensity and countered. They were much improved from last year. They did all the right things, and didn't make anything easy." The weather was horrible. It had been raining on and off in Bethlehem for days, with hailstorms last night rendering the field a muddy mess. The downpour continued during the contest. The conditions hurt the Quakers, who focus on playing the ball to each others' feet. Wet grass caused the ball to speed up and skid out of control. "The conditions were a bit tough at first, but we jelled well," junior defender Matt Stern said. "The defense is really starting to come together. We developed a lot more opportunities out of the midfield and up front. We had some good chances. Communication was better. I'm pretty happy with it." Lehigh coach Dean Koski was quick to praise the Quakers, as well as his own squad. Engineer goaltender Chris Booth stopped 18 shots before letting in the game-winner. According to Koski, this is the way the Engineers season has been going. "We're never going to win a game if we don't score," Koski said. "We gave up a tough goal, but those things happen. We've got to score. Our record isn't indicative of the quality of the play that we've had game in and game out, but it's certainly who we are. We're a 1-7 team. We've got to find ways not to be one. We just can't find ways to win. I have no qualms, other than finding somebody who can put the ball in the net." His sentiments sounded similar to what Penn coach George O'Neill and his team were saying prior to yesterday's game. The Quakers were able to slow the contest down in the second half, forcing the Engineers to play their style. "In the last 20 minutes of the game we started to play," sophomore defender Alan Waxman said. "We started to move the ball and play soccer. We haven't done that since the first game. That's a really good sign. We need to start getting some victories, get our confidence up, and prove to ourselves that we are a good team, because we are a good team. As soon as people start believing it, you're going to see massive improvements." After 74 minutes, the Penn pressure finally paid off in a goal. With 16:30 remaining in the game, junior midfielder Brendan Sullivan took a shot and missed, pulling Booth out of position. As the ball ricocheted out, junior forward Pat Larco scored, with an assist from junior defender David Choi. It would be the only goal of the contest. Despite some tense moments as the clock ticked down, the Quakers succeeded in stopping the final Engineers rush. Several Quakers excelled in the team effort, including Sullivan, who showed "great moves" in his five shots on goal. Stern turned in another outstanding performance on defense. Kralik stopped eight shots, including three by freshman phenom Mario Monfardini. Despite the successful effort, the Quakers were not satisfied with just one goal. Perhaps the Quakers missed senior co-captain Keith Amen, out with a virus and high temperature, and sophomore forward Max Englehart, who suffered an ankle injury in the game at Dartmouth, where he scored the lone Penn goal. Both should be back by Saturday's game against No. 13 Columbia. "We fully deserved to win this game," O'Neill said. "The pleasing thing is that we did create the chances and got the ball into the area where we wanted it. We were stringing three, four, five passes together and finishing up with a shot. Now we have to concentrate more on putting it into the net." After making vast improvements in the past week, the Quakers are disappointed that did not show in their play. They will take the win, despite the rough conditions and sloppy play, and try to improve still more. "Overall it was pleasing that they bounced back after two bad losses," O'Neill said. "They were certainly down on themselves a bit, but they didn't stop trying. Today they just kept going even though the conditions weren't the best."