M. Soccer stays in its slump

The Penn men's soccer team failed to break its losing slump this weekend, as they lost both of their games in the Hartwick Invitational. In its Saturday game against Hartwick (5-4-1), Penn did not display its best stuff, losing, 2-0. This marked the fourth straight game the Quakers were shutout. Senior defender Brad Copeland felt the Quakers had plenty of opportunities to score, but Penn (2-5) was just unable to find the back of the net. "We played pretty flat," Copeland said. "We let them take the play to us a lot? We were not being really aggressive. We were letting them win a lot of the 50-50 balls." Entering the Virginia Commonwealth game yesterday, Quakers coach George O'Neill changed the defense, moving defender Tom Hughes from the middle to the left side. The move was made to offset VCU's speedy forwards. Unfortunately for the Quakers, the move was to no avail, as Ricardo Capilla Ramos, the tournament's offensive MVP, scored just over 12 minutes into the game on a goal Penn suspected was offside. After conceding the second goal to VCU's John Moffatt two minutes later, the Quakers changed back to their original formation. "We seemed to play better [after the change]," Penn freshman defender Henry Chen said. "It was a little more cohesive. I think we were a little rattled in the beginning when they scored that offsides goal." Unlike the previous day, Penn did not go gently into the midday air, as they came back to tie the game at two going into the half. Led by sophomore midfielder Brian Foote, the Quakers were able to shake their scoring jinx. With five minutes separating the two goals, Foote assisted both Matt Huebner and Jason Karageorge. "We really took it to them," Copeland said. "It was such a different game mentally for us. We played with a lot more intensity." Penn's aggressive play against the nationally recognized Rams (9-1-1) ended up hurting them as Copeland fouled VCU's Trevor Spencer in the box. The penalty kick ended up being the final difference in the 3-2 VCU win. The Quakers claim the score has done little to represent their overall solid play. With most of their non-conference games out of the way, the Quakers feel they have made the adjustments in time to contend for the Ivy League crown.

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