M. Soccer ends season below .500

To win soccer games, you have to score goals. At the start of the season, Penn men's soccer coach George O'Neill thought his team "had the talent to have a winning season." Sometimes raw talent just isn't enough. The Quakers finished the year with only six wins, two games below .500. Despite the losing record, the team remained positive about its play. "I have seen a marked improvement from last year," O'Neill said. "We were in almost every game, but it was still a frustrating season." The Quakers (6-8-1, 2-4-1 Ivy League) often beat themselves, conceding goals due to mental mistakes. Penn struggled all season to find the right mix. Four defenders -- sophomore Alan Waxman, junior Matt Stern and freshmen Jared Boggs and Brad Copeland -- were new this year. Stern is a transfer from Union, while Waxman sat out as a freshman with an ankle injury. At midfield, transfers Brendan Sullivan and Read Goodwin started almost every game. Penn's offense was no more solid than the rest of the squad. Sophomore Tim Rusche was out for the year with a broken leg, leaving the Quakers with only junior Pat Larco at striker. Seniors Brian Brown and Scott Ford filled in as forwards. Brown excelled at his new position, scoring three goals and assisting on three more. Recruiting efforts will focus on finding another striker. "We need to improve both offensive and defensive consistency," O'Neill said. "If those chances in front of the net would have gone in, we would have won more games than we lost." Penn started the season well, with a 2-1 win against La Salle. Ten days later, the Quakers traveled to American, then Dartmouth, losing 5-1 in both contests. After a messy 1-0 victory over Lehigh, Penn surprised everyone in upsetting then-No. 13 Columbia. That was the turning point in the season. "We were counted out of the Columbia game right from the start," senior co-captain Keith Amen said. "The win proved to ourselves and everyone else that we could play with the best teams in the nation." The following Saturday, Penn lost to Harvard in overtime. The Quakers would have only one win in their next seven contests. "I'd like to have the loss to Harvard back," Amen said. "After that game, we had the feeling we couldn't win the Ivy League. It was one of those losses that we never let go." According to the team, Penn matured during the losses. The Quakers showed potential late in the year, battling from behind against Yale and Temple. In its final game, Penn came back twice to tie Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. The Quakers' six victories were the most the team has had since 1989. "We think we're better than our record shows," junior goaltender Andrew Kralik said at midseason. "We're still trying to turn the program around. I think we're doing a good job of it, but it's not going to happen overnight. Some good things are still to come. Each year we've gotten more wins, beaten higher-ranked teams and played better soccer." Coaches across the Ivy League took notice of Penn's improvement. Larco, the team's leader in league scoring with three goals and one assist, was named to the all-Ivy second team. Kralik, junior co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz, Sullivan and Waxman received honorable mention. Marcinkiewicz led Penn with six goals and four assists for 16 total points. All are expected to return next season. "It's good to see them coming back," O'Neill said. "They're a group of guys who have some character. We've got a great base to work from." The Quakers will be losing Brown and Amen to graduation. Ford's status, however, is still in doubt. A transfer from national-champion Virginia, Ford tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his first Penn game. He has not yet decided whether to return for his final year of eligibility. "Winning becomes a habit," O'Neill said. "It comes down to confidence, all over the field. We lost a couple of games and people started losing confidence in themselves, but over the season the team was doing something right."