M. Soccer loses more experience

With its season on the rocks, the Penn men's soccer team is having trouble keeping itself together. Four players have quit since the beginning of the season and its star freshman is out with a broken collarbone. In the first week of October, sophomore starter Max Englehardt quit, citing academic reasons to coach George O'Neill. Englehardt's departure left a deep hole in the forward rotation. Juniors Mike Schmidt and Mark Simon, and senior Michael Singleton have also quit recently. With promising freshmen and top new transfers, the upperclassmen were not getting much action on the field. But O'Neill likes to play his bench during the course of the soccer season, and the older experienced team members are noticeably missing. Schmidt, Simon and Singleton were not available for comment. "As far as I know, most of them left for personal reasons," senior co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz said. "It is going to have some effect, but I think we still have a strong team." "Because of the lack of depth, it just means that other players are going to have to step up," junior Pat Larco said. The Quakers host crosstown rival St. Joseph's at Rhodes Field today at 3 p.m. The field, which was renamed from River Field 'A,' is located behind Hollenback. Penn's most visible loss has been freshman Brad Copeland, whose season ended during the fall break trip to Florida when he broke his collarbone. Penn split the trip against Florida International and Florida Atlantic. Copeland has been a force in the backfield, starting and finishing every game for the Quakers. The defensive breakdown during Penn's 9-0 loss to Brown Saturday in Providence showed just how much Copeland will be missed. O'Neill auditioned several players for Copeland's role, but they could not fit the bill fast enough to stop the Bears' offensive onslaught. The vulnerability of the backfield became obvious to Brown, and its skilled forwards easily slipped through Penn's defense on nine separate occasions. "It is hard to adjust a situation where he has been there every game and suddenly he is not," Marcinkiewicz said. O'Neill will still be experimenting with the backfield. Seeing the defense allow nine goals in Providence, he knows the search is not over yet. After practice yesterday, O'Neill was still not certain how to fill Copeland's shoes. "We tried a couple guys on Saturday, but we have a lot of nagging injuries," O'Neill said. "I am honestly not sure what we're going to do." The Quakers' inconsistent play this season could be attributed to the adjustments they have had to make in their lineup, but O'Neill is not looking for explanations. At this point in the season, he expects his team to perform. "We can't use that as an excuse," O'Neill said. "There are adjustments in every game....[The Brown game] was a big defeat. Everybody was embarrassed, but they have to learn how to handle it."