Defense the key for Penn soccer

If the Quakers want to challenge for an Ivy title, goals must be scarce. Coming off a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory Wednesday against Soccer 7 team La Salle, the Penn men's soccer team (2-0, 1-0 Ivy League) is looking forward to facing Ivy rival Dartmouth (1-1, 0-0). The two teams will face off Sunday at 1 p.m. at Penn's Rhodes Field. The Big Green are a tough opponent, however, and the Quakers must keep their focus. "Dartmouth is a very good team, very well organized," Penn coach George O'Neill said. The Quakers realize they cannot rely on overcoming a two-goal deficit as they did Wednesday. Strong defense is necessary to win games. "The defense is always a key," O'Neill declared. "If you don't lose goals, you don't lose games." The Quakers understand falling behind early will wear them down and will make it hard to regain momentum. O'Neill takes pride in the excellent conditioning of his players. He remarked that they needed to take better advantage of this weapon by applying more pressure defensively. "We need to close people down quicker. We have to get closer to the ball," said O'Neill. "This will force more mistakes by the opposing team and prevent easy goals. Penn's defense, led in part by sophomore Tom Hughes, will have to concentrate on "playing tough" and communicating better, according to Hughes. He explained the need to "work on distribution out of the back and passing the ball up to the midfielders." Sophomore Michael O'Connor, who earned All-Mid-Atlantic honors last year, will be returning between the posts. The young goalkeeper has already demonstrated his skills this season, and will be challenged again on Sunday. "Mike has made some outstanding saves," said O'Neill. "He came up big when we needed him." O'Connor is the finishing touch to an excellent Quakers defense. The Quakers are unusual in that all 11 of their starters returned from last year. This experience will be helpful as they battle a physical Dartmouth team. The Red and Blue hope to avenge last year's disappointing 2-0 loss to the Big Green in Hanover, N.H. The Quakers are confident in their ability this season. They have already defeated defending Ivy League champion Harvard on the road. They proved they could play and score in pressure situations against La Salle. Now all they need is their communication to improve, especially between the defense and midfielders. "We have to go in there mentally prepared," Hughes said. "We can beat any team."