M. Soccer tries to avoid history

Last year, the Penn men's soccer team was the perennial Ivy underdog. Then it upset nationally-ranked Columbia. The next week, the Quakers lost to Harvard in double-overtime. Both games were played at Rhodes Field. It is not last year. Underdogs no longer, the Quakers (3-3-1, 1-1 Ivy League) will be repeating that sequence of games again. This year Penn is on the road, having defeated the Lions in New York last Saturday. Tomorrow it will try to exorcise the ghosts of last year as it faces Harvard (3-3-1, 1-1) in Cambridge. "We had an opportunity to win that game in the final 26 seconds last year," Penn coach George O'Neill said. "I know they know that. I hope they remember it and then take a positive out of it, rather than a negative. I think that's something they're determined isn't going to happen again." The Quakers will be facing a very different Harvard squad tomorrow. Though the Crimson lost only three starters to graduation, midfielder Kevin Silva is out indefinitely after tearing ligaments in his knee. However, forward Richard Wilmot, a transfer from Penn State, has been filling in admirably. He currently leads the Crimson in scoring. And last year's hero, local star Will Kohler, is close on Wilmot's heels. The Quakers' midfield has come together around Steve Marcinkiewicz, the Ivies' scoring leader. The co-captain garnered both Penn and Ivy Player of the Week honors, and was named to the Soccer America Collegiate Team of the Week. He is expected to lead Penn's offensive attack again Saturday. "Guys who needed to step up are stepping up," Waxman said. "The leaders of this team are taking responsibility instead of just waiting around." The Quakers' youth has given the team a short memory. They do not remember last year's heartbreak. They have nothing but confidence. "They believe there's a chance they can win the Ivy League," O'Neill said. "To do that they have to go beat a team called Harvard at Harvard."