Quakers crack .500 with win over Temple

For the first time in years, the Penn men's soccer team is over the .500 mark this far into the season. With yesterday's 4-1 blowout of Soccer Seven rival Temple at Rhodes Field, the Quakers extended their winning streak to four games and their undefeated streak to six. The Penn offense was tremendous, recording 21 shots on goal, and the defense was equally impressive, holding the Owls to only a single score. The combination of an aggressive offensive attack and a solid defensive effort have finally come together in the last couple of games for Penn (6-5-1). Sophomore midfielder Gregg Kroll and senior forward Patrick Larco were the only players to score for the Quakers -- each chiming in with a pair of goals. Larco, who came off the bench early in the game, started off the onslaught of goals in the 18th minute. That first goal was off of a pass from senior captain Read Goodwin. "I beat their defender and drove the ball across the net. Gregg Kroll let the ball pass through his legs, and it deflected off of one of their players," said Larco, laughing as he recounted the play. Larco capitalized again only minutes later, this time off of a breakaway chip by freshman midfielder Jason Karageorge. Temple reciprocated quickly with their only goal of the game. The Quakers left the field at halftime up 2-1, but weren't as happy with their performance as they could have been. "We had a kind of lack luster effort in the first half," Kroll said. "We weren't as fired up about this game as we should have been. It wasn't an Ivy League game, and we didn't really come into it with the right attitude." The Quakers regrouped during halftime and returned to the field in better form. "In the second half we moved the ball around nicely," Kroll said. "We took up the intensity." The Quakers scored only eight minutes into the half, increasing their lead to two goals. Kroll found the net on a crossed ball by Karageorge. The assist was Karageorge's second of the game. The next 35 minutes of the game were scoreless. Then Kroll found the net again in the second-to-last minute of the game to secure the Quakers victory over Temple. "We're much better at playing as a team, more as a unit," Larco said. "Everybody's working for each other. Its been a hell of a long time since we've had a four game winning streak -- at least five years." The winning record that the Quakers had in the Ivy League is now matched by a winning overall record. "It feels really good to have a winning record this late in the season," Kroll said. "Things weren't looking so good for a while. We went 1-5 in our first 6 games." Penn has four games remaining this season and still has an outside chance of winning the Ivy League title. At this point, however, the Quakers are taking it one game at a time, like they have been all season.