M. Soccer destroyed by No. 16 Bears, 9-0

It was one of those nights when everything went wrong. The Penn men's soccer team faced Brown Saturday expecting a tough battle. The Quakers got more than they bargained for, suffering a 9-0 loss in Providence. "It wasn't a very pretty game," junior forward Pat Larco said. "We allowed Brown to keep putting pressure on our defense, and they had to crack eventually. Brown had a lot of opportunities to score, and their forwards just finished." Brown (9-2-1, 4-0-1 Ivy League) exhibited a balanced attack that stymied the Quakers (4-6, 1-3). The Bears had 26 shots on goal. Junior co-captain Andrew Kralik made only seven saves, allowing three goals in the first half and another four in the second before being replaced by sophomore Justin Ramsey. "We just fell apart," freshman defender Tom Raab said. "Going into the game, I don't think we had the confidence to play together. We haven't been in sync lately. We weren't running off the ball and supporting each other. Our defense lapsed at times. After a certain point, we kind of submitted to them." Forty players got into the contest, with Ramsey and several other Quakers seeing their first Ivy League action. Brown sophomore Aaron Fernandes scored two goals, including the first of the game with only 8 minutes, 40 seconds gone. Forward Gary Hughes contributed a goal and three assists. Senior Darren Eales also struck twice, raising his Ivy-leading goal total to 11. "We got roughed up," junior midfielder Pat Brannigan said. "It was 3-0 at halftime and it just went down from there. They exposed us and seemed to score every time." Brown stifled Penn at both ends of the field, while the Quakers were unable to do the same. They suffered major defensive breakdowns coupled with an ineffective offense. Penn coach George O'Neill tried many different lineups, including a backfield of three freshmen. "Our forwards weren't producing," Larco said. "We didn't have really good scoring opportunities, so we didn't take shots on goal." The Quakers took 14 shots, mostly early in the first half and after the contest was out of reach. Only two Penn attempts required action from Brown junior goaltender Tim Webb. With this game, Webb ties the Brown record for career shutouts. "Brown is a good team, but they're definitely not nine goals better than we are," Brannigan said. "For the first 10 or 15 minutes we were playing well. We kept it up for the rest of the first half, but everything they did worked out with the ball in the back of our net." Penn had little to cheer about in this game. The 16th-ranked Bears are leading the Ivy League, while the Quakers are fifth. The team wants to put the poor performance and pitiful loss behind it and continue with what Penn believes is an easier part of the season. "I don't know what happened, but I'd like to forget it," Raab said. "We've got to start winning, but nothing seems to be working. It was a bad experience and we have to erase it." Penn traveled to Providence with a positive attitude. Thinking can get you only so far. Before the Quakers can move on, they must get over this disheartening loss. "Nobody knows what to do," Brannigan said. "I don't even know how to react to it. It's something that's never happened to any of us in our careers. Everything Brown did resulted in a goal. The result was devastating. We were just defeated all over the place."