Penn soars to win over St Joseph's

With its victory over St. Joe's, theWith its victory over St. Joe's, thePenn men's soccer team clinched itsWith its victory over St. Joe's, thePenn men's soccer team clinched itsfirst winning season since 1984. The celebrating can finally begin. With its sixth win in a row, the Penn men's soccer team has secured its first winning season in 12 years. The Quakers accomplished this feat with yesterday's 4-2 win over Soccer Seven rival St. Joseph's in their final home game of the year. The game was a rescheduled match after the original meeting was rained out on October 8. The victory raised Penn to a 8-5-1 record overall and a 3-2 mark in the Soccer Seven and led to the team's longest unbeaten streak since 1971, when they advanced to the NCAA tournament after a 14-0-1 season. The Quakers started off strong, with sophomore forward Pat Larco finding a hole in the defense and scoring only five minutes into the match. Penn midfielder Gregg Kroll contributed to the first-half domination, taking the ball down the field and pushing through the surrounding St. Joe's defenders. Finding himself one-on-one with the Hawks goalkeeper, Kroll pushed the ball past the keeper into the back of the net. Capping off the first-half scoring was Penn freshman midfielder Reggie Brown's first goal of the season -- a straight shot into the center of the net from about 20 yards back that found the same opening as Larco. The goal was assisted by freshman midfielder Dave Bonder. The second half was not as prosperous for the Quakers as the first. Although Tim Rusche tapped the ball in early in the second half from an assist by Kroll, the four-point lead was the most Penn would see. "The performance definitely dropped in the second half," Penn coach George O'Neill said. A series of penalties and sloppy play, combined with a noticeably more aggressive St. Joe's squad, meant most of the second-half action was in the Quakers' territory. Both of the Hawks goals, however, resulted from penalty kicks. The first was an assist across the field to a St. Joe's midfielder who put a header in over senior goalie Hanan Fishman. The second came directly from a penalty kick, escaping the diving goalkeeper by inches. "We took it to them in the first," Kroll said. "We just fell apart in the second. It became a lackluster effort." Despite the two late goals allowed, the Quakers held on for the win and guaranteed themselves a winning season with only two games left to play -- Friday at Princeton and Saturday at Penn State. "No one wants to say anything about the season yet, although this is a great achievement coming from [a 1-5 start] earlier in the season," O'Neill said.