M. Soccer shut out again, 2-0

The Quakers' forwards continued to struggle as in the season's second-to-last match. The Penn men's soccer team's scoring woes continued yesterday as it was blanked, 2-0, by Lehigh at Rhodes Field, raising the Quakers' number of shutout losses this season to six. Despite the defeat, disappointed Penn coach George O'Neill had nothing negative to say about his team. "I thought we played as well as Lehigh, maybe even better," O'Neill said. "But they got two goals." Lehigh coach Dean Koski also hesitates to call the Engineers the superior team. "I'm not going to say we're the better team, because Penn has a good team," Koski said. "But today, we were better." The first half of the game was uneventful with most of the action occurring in midfield. Both teams had trouble controlling the ball, leading to few scoring opportunities for either side. As a result, the two goalies had no real tests in the first half, as most of Penn's shots came from outside the 18-yard box and sailed over the goal. The first minutes of the second half were as inconsequential as those in the first, with the only excitement occurring when Engineers forward Gus Zangrilli became tangled up with Quaker midfielder David Bonder, resulting in a yellow card for Zangrilli. However, 12 minutes into the half, Lehigh capitalized on a scoring opportunity. Engineers sophomore forward Kevin Jackson carried the ball down the right sideline, passing to Zangrilli. Zangrilli centered the ball to senior forward Mario Monfardini who shot the ball right past Quakers goalie Michael O'Connor. The Engineers (6-4-1) might have increased their lead minutes later had freshman Austin Deng not broken up a three-on-two breakaway in Lehigh's favor. While the Brown and White profited from their shot opportunities, Penn could not. A give-and-go play, ending in a Reginald Brown shot was saved by Lehigh goalie Nick DiCello, as was a crisp shot by Matt Huebner. "We had some chances to score," O'Neill said. "We just didn't take them." Lehigh added an insurance goal with 10 minutes left in the game. With the Quakers defense pushed up past midfield, Engineers midfielder Andrew Mittendorf was left unguarded. Jackson cleared the ball to Mittendorf and the midfielder drove down the left side of the field, shooting the ball past O'Connor and in the far corner. The goal was Mittendorf's 12th of the year and Jackson's two assists were his 13th and 14th of the season. Penn senior captain Read Goodwin feels that the second goal could not have been prevented. "When you're trying to catch up, you push the defense up, and their offense was hanging out at midfield the whole game," Goodwin said. "There's not really much you can do about that." "It's hard to shut down our midfielders and forwards for 90 minutes," Koski said. "Sooner or later, they're going to wear you down, and if you give them any breathing room, they'll score." The Quakers (4-11) have now lost two games in a row heading into their final match against Princeton at Rhodes Field on Saturday. Despite the Red and Blue's anemic offense O'Neill does not plan to change the team's strategy for the game. "We're just going to keep trying to score goals," he said.