Pirates wreck Men's Soccer

Tom Houston's hatTom Houston's hattrick does in Penn at South Orange A hat trick. Five different players scoring. Nine goals. Thirteen saves. One team just had a helluva day. Unfortunately for the Penn men's soccer squad, that team was Seton Hall. The Pirates showed no mercy yesterday, mauling the Quakers, 9-3, at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J. "Penn caught us on a day when everything went well and everything clicked," Seton Hall head coach Manny Schnellscheidt said. "Some days you can't do anything wrong and on others you can't get even one goal." Seton Hall came out roaring. Penn came out snoring. And the Quakers (0-2) didn't wake up until halfway through the second half, scoring their first goal nearly 70 minutes into the contest. By that time, the Pirates had already racked up six goals. The first one came 14 minutes into the game, when all-American Tom Houston teamed up with Michael Magarinos on a give-and-go to the far corner. Magarinos scored a goal of his own minutes later. Houston closed off the first-half scoring soon afterwards, taking a pass from teammate Peter Gonzalez and sending it over the head of Penn goalie Andrew Kralik. Gonzalez ended the day with three assists, one more than the total of the whole Penn team. The Pirates continued to dominate in the second half. Houston completed his hat trick in the opening minutes of the half, scoring on a breakaway. Two other Pirates scored soon afterward. Steve Cohen finally ended the drought for the Quakers, slipping one by last week's Big East Defensive Player of the Week, goalie Eric Shaw. Seton Hall countered with another goal four minutes later. Finally, Penn co-captain Steve Marcinkiewicz tried to create some kind of momentum for his floundering team. In a span of 20 seconds, Marcinkiewicz knocked in two goals on assists by Cohen to pull the Quakers within 7-3. But it was too little, too late. Seton Hall finished out the contest by tallying two goals in the final minutes, improving their overall record to 2-2. After losing a tough 2-1 decision at the hands of Philadelphia Textile last Saturday, the team was determined to turn things around. "As long as everyone is in the right frame of mind, we'll be fine," Penn coach George O'Neill said before last night's game. Obviously, the Quakers were not. Last night's throbbing is going to force Penn to take a step back and reevaluate things before Saturday when Cornell comes to town for the Ivy League opener.