M. Soccer closes breakthrough season with loss to Princeton

The Tigers earned their first IvyThe Tigers earned their first Ivywin this year, snapping Penn'sThe Tigers earned their first Ivywin this year, snapping Penn'seight-game undefeated streak. If the Brothers Grimm were writing the ending to the Penn men's soccer season, it might sound like this: "The Penn men's soccer team won the Ivy League title for the first time in 16 years." But the 1996 season wasn't a fairy tale, and Penn's most successful effort in 14 years didn't end on quite as high a note as the Quakers had wished for. Penn's winning streak was halted rather abruptly by a surprising 5-1 loss to Princeton on Saturday. The Quakers (8-6-1, 4-3 Ivy League), after going eight straight games without losing, crumbled under the Tigers' offensive pressure. "We didn't come to play, we were flat, and they were fired up, and they took it to us," Penn midfielder Gregg Kroll said. "It was their last home game, but I think they were just fired up. Even though they were only 0-3-2, they were still a good team." Three of Princeton's five goals were scored in the first half, with two coming in the first 10 minutes of play. "We didn't mark well in the first 20 minutes of the game, and we paid for it," Penn midfielder David Bonder said. The game (which was played on Saturday due to bad weather on Friday night) was Princeton's last home game. "They came out ready to play, and we weren't as ready," Quakers midfielder Reginald Brown said. "It was their senior day, and Andre Parrs and a couple of other seniors really came out to play and put on a show." The victory was Princeton's only Ivy League win of the season, but it was one that they were hungry for. "There was nothing we really could have done about it. They just came out on fire," Penn co-captain Brad Copeland said. "We got caught in traffic and didn't get there until 10:30, giving us very little time to warm up. "I don't think that we were mentally prepared, and they were ready to go. It was apparently the best game that Princeton played all year." Even with the disappointing ending to the season, the Quakers are proud of their achievements. After beginning with a 1-5 record, Penn turned around the season and ended the years with a final record of 8-6-1. In the course of the second half of the season, Penn had an eight-game undefeated streak and a seven-game winning streak. The success of the team was a far cry from recent years of mediocrity. Penn has not won the Ivy League championship since 1980, when it shared the title with Columbia. "We have to be really happy starting off 1-5 and not losing a game for eight games, going 7-0-1," Kroll said. "Winning four games in the Ivy League is outstanding. We're a young teamE-- 95 percent of our people or so are coming back next season. I think we have a lot to look forward to next season." The Quakers are done for now, and for some, like senior Read Goodwin and Patrick Larco, the Princeton match was their last game. "This season was unbelievable -- talk about ups and downs," Goodwin said. "The most amazing thing about it was that nothing changed from when we were 1-5 to when we went 7-0-1. Practices were the same. Training was the same. Everyone on the team knew that we had the ability to win, and the big game was Cornell. "After we beat them, I think that everybody knew that we could win. It's still disappointing looking back at who we beat and then looking back at who we lost to. We could have beaten them if we played them later in the season."