Deja-vu loss haunts M. Soccer

After three losses to start the season, the Penn men's soccer team had not lost since Sept. 16th. The Quakers travelled to Harvard in an attempt to bring their record over .500 for the first time this season. The match mirrored last year's Quakers-Crimson clash, with Penn (3-4-1, 1-2 Ivy League) again suffering a double-overtime defeat. It was Penn's second double-overtime match of the season. In the first one, Penn tied Villanova 2-2. Penn committed 34 fouls Saturday, along with four offsides and two yellow cards, compared to 21 fouls, 1 offside and no yellow cards for the Crimson (4-3-1, 2-1). Harvard opened the scoring when Will Kohler shot a ball that deflected off defensman Alan Waxman past goalie co-captain Andrew Kralik and into the net 13 minutes into the match. The lead would not last long. Sophomore Jared Boggs came back eight minutes later with a shot past goalie Peter Albers to tie it up. Nobody would be able to break the tie for the rest of the half. Harvard came back to take a 2-1 lead, and controlled the match for much of the second half. In their match against Villanova, the Quakers had a one-goal lead for most of the second half, until Villanova tied it with just a few minutes left. This time, it was Penn's turn. With two minutes left in regulation, senior Brendan Sullivan received a pass from Stern and knocked it past Albers to send the game into overtime. "I thought it was our game after that," said Stern. "It was like a second chance." Both teams battled through 27 minutes of overtime without a goal. With three minutes remaining in the final overtime, Harvard midfielder Armando Petruccelli ran the ball across the middle of the field and passed it to an open Chris Wojcik in the middle of the box. Wojcik sent the ball past Kralik for the victory. Stern said the defense should have stopped the Crimson. "That man needed to be marked up. Kralik didn't have a chance," Stern said. "It was our responsibility to stop him?.I was just in shock. I couldn't believe we let that up." The loss sends the Quakers down in the Ivy standings, and slims their chances of winning the championship. Two losses this early means Penn will need help to win. "This doesn't convince me that we're not the best team in the Ivies," Stern said. "I still think we can do really well -- it's just that now other things have to happen." The Quakers have two more games before they return to the Ivy League. In that time, Penn needs the Ivy standings to even out if it is to make a run for the championship.