M. Soccer drops two at Penn State

Scoring woes continued for the Penn men's soccer team this weekend, as their losing streak extended to three games. Two 1-0 shutout losses this weekend at the Penn State Nike Classic to Penn State and Akron (7-3) leave the Quakers wondering why the back of the net is so hard to find. In the second of a two-game Friday evening agenda, Penn (2-3) opposed regional rival Penn State. Both teams struggled in the week prior to the matchup, Penn a loser against Dartmouth, and Penn State. (5-4-1) having dropped four of the previous five. The Nittany Lions boast one of the strongest defenses in the nation and restricted the Quakers' offense, already without leading scorer Steve Cohen, who was hampered by an injury, to just three first half shots. "We just have to finish," Penn junior midfielder Ralph Maier said. "With the few opportunities we get, we have to capitalize, and the past few games, we haven't." Nittany Lions senior Phil Karn scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute of the first half. Karn took a crossing pass from senior captain Travis Berger inside the six-yard box and put a shot past Penn goalie Michael O'Conner. Karn, a transfer from Drexel two seasons ago, led the Nittany Lions in scoring last season with 26 points. After giving up the goal, the Penn defense and O'Conner stood firm, giving up only two shots in the entire second half, while applying pressure in the Penn St. end and looking to draw even. However, they could not. "It's just unlucky," Penn coach George O'Neill said. "We were right in their end in the last minute, but we just couldn't get it in [the goal]. Everybody's got to keep working to try and finish. We've got to keep working on it." Despite being outshot 7-6 in the game, the Penn State defense was good enough to prevent the Quakers from penetrating the 18-yard box with any regularity, while Nittany Lions sophomore goalie Ross Brubaker made only four saves to record his second consecutive shutout. Trying to forget about Friday night's game and hoping to come home with at least one victory, the Quakers returned to Jeffrey Field less than 24 hours later for their second and final game at the Nike Classic against Akron. However, the Zips' defense was even tougher to penetrate than the Nittany Lions' the previous night, as the Quakers were only able to manage two shots the entire game, neither within 25 yards of the Zips goal, and forced Akron goalie Bill Wahl to make only one save. "We were certainly turning the ball over a lot," O'Neill said. "We were working very hard, but we didn't make quite as many chances. Akron is also a very good team." The Quakers managed to remain tied with the Zips for the first half, but the tie was broken early in the second half. An unassisted Christer Larsen goal in the 54th minute powered Akron to defeat the offensively inept Quakers, who lost 1-0 for the third straight game. Larsen, the Zips' leading scorer, beat O'Conner with a shot from the top left corner of the penalty box. "On the goal, one of our players slipped, and (Larsen) finished it very well," O'Neill said. "Our goalkeeper didn't even have a chance." The two matches with formidable opposition in a 24-hour time period may have fatigued the Quakers by the time they had to fight to get back into the second game. "You play one 90-minute game and you go all out against Penn State, a tough team, and it's physically demanding and the next day you're sore, but Akron had to go through the same deal," Maier said. "I guess they might have wanted it a little bit more." As a result of Akron's victory, the Zips, winners of their last six matches, were perfect in the tournament at 2-0, along with host Penn State. Neither the Quakers nor Army were able to muster a victory. The Quakers will work on better distribution of the ball out of the back and midfield, but only have two practices to identify and rectify their offensive tribulations before the next game, as Penn hosts Lehigh this Wednesday afternoon.