St. Joe's slips past M. Soccer

After yesterday's 3-1 loss to St. Joseph's, Penn men's soccer co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz said in disappointment, "It's just another game we should have won." Penn can add yesterday's loss to the list of games that could and probably should have been. Spectators who cut out for the final moments of the game would never guess the Quakers even came close to losing. In the last 10 minutes, the Hawks scored three lethal goals: at 80 minutes, 49 seconds; 87:22; and 88:50. Until then, Penn (4-7) was dominating the game. In the first half, St. Joe's goalie Sean Vliet faced a barrage of shots. Although the Quakers made countless threats, they never followed through. At 40:19, sophomore Read Goodwin finally scored for Penn off a pass from Marcinkiewicz, ending Vliet's three-game shutout streak. St. Joe's (9-6-2) is sporting seven shutouts on the year with Vliet in the defensive scheme. "It was a kind of a slow game," Marcinkiewicz said. "We had so many chances to score." Goodwin's score was the first time the Quakers had rejoiced in a while, and it was the last time they would in the game. It was the same old story for Penn, numerous chances to put the ball in the net that just slipped away. Whether the balls were tipped off the goalposts, shot high and wide or retracted by Vliet -- nothing could land in the back of the net. "I personally had five chances, and I just couldn't finish them," Marcinkiewicz said. "It is the same as it has been all year. We just can't get that last touch." With the ball in the Hawks' box in the 59th minute, Penn had two clear shots that missed. Senior Scott Ford got into the offensive action in the second half, but hesitated to make the final shot. At 75:30, he had a clear scoring opportunity, but passed the ball off in the box. The Quakers have proven before they have the talent, and nothing but concentration now is going to cure their scoring blues. There are only four games left in the season for Penn to show it can pull itself together offensively. "We can practice it," Marcinkiewicz said. "But until you're in that situation in a game, you never know what is going to happen.?Some days you can put it in the net, some days you can't." The come-from-behind victory for St. Joe's was earned. Vliet made several great saves, stopping numerous attempts by Marcinkiewicz and senior forward Brian Brown. The Hawks never gave up, and as soon as they had the opportunity, they scored. St. Joe's tied the game at 1 when a shot ricocheted off the post to the right of Penn goaltender Andrew Kralik. When Kralik sent the ball out, it was immediately headed to his left. It was one of the first major lapses in the strong defensive coverage by sophomore Alan Waxman and junior Matt Stern in the game, and they payed for it. Just six minutes later, and with just two more to go, Kralik found himself looking over his shoulder at the Hawks' second goal. Kralik left the net open, the other Quaker defender tripped, and several others dropped to their knees in disbelief. Their chance to seal the game up in overtime evaporated quickly. After getting a penalty kick with one minute left, St. Joe's nailed down the victory, and ensured the Quakers would not win yet another close game.