M. Soccer hopes to right ship vs. Pirates

"If we still have our heads up our butts, Seton Hall is going to come out and crush us." That's what men's soccer co-captain Andrew Kralik predicted last Saturday after watching his team's complete collapse during a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia Textile in the season opener. Lousy passes, defensive errors and poor communication left the Quakers helpless against a focused Textile squad. But the season is barely a week old, and Penn has another chance to start off the season well this afternoon at 3 p.m. when it travels to South Orange, N.J., to face the Pirates. Perhaps Saturday's disaster was just a case of first-game jitters. "We hope we can learn from our mistakes and take this negative and turn it into a positive," co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz said. "On Saturday, we were holding the ball too long. We were looking too long for the right pass and we ended up making the wrong ones. If we just take the first safe shot we get tomorrow, we'll be able to keep the game moving." "As long as everyone is in the right frame of mind, we'll be fine," Penn head coach George O'Neill said. "Seton Hall is a well-coached, well-organized team. It'll be a very competitive game as long as everyone is in the right frame of mind." The Pirates (1-2) have had mixed success so far this season. They kicked off their 1995 campaign in Connecticut last week, losing to Maryland and North Carolina, two teams that have been floating in and out of the top 10. Last Friday, they dominated then-No. 12 Penn State to notch their first victory of the season. Returning for Seton Hall this season is junior forward Tom Houston, who was a second team all-American last year with a team-leading 33 points. Two other key players, senior forward Michael Magarinos and junior goalie Eric Shaw, will also be in the lineup tomorrow. Shaw was recently named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week after producing a career-high nine saves. "They're a great team with a strong program," Marcinkiewicz said. "It will definitely be more soccer than we saw Saturday, and hopefully that will give us a chance to get into it." The Quakers could not get into it against the Rams Saturday. Will tomorrow be any different, against a stronger, more confident opponent? After having four days to contemplate this question, Kralik has revised his prediction. "We were lost Saturday and we just need to relax," he said. "If we can string some passes together and get some confidence early on, we can do it."