M. Soccer starts Ivies at Dartmouth

After two losses last weekend, the Penn men's soccer team seeks Ivy win, and season win, number one. For the Penn men's soccer team (0-2), Saturday's Ivy League-opening match against No. 15 nationally-ranked Dartmouth (1-0) presents an opportunity to finally exorcise the demons of 1997 and to show the nation that the Quakers are a squad on the rise. "Last week [a 1-0 loss to No. 18 William and Mary], we proved that we're a competitive team," first-year Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "Now we're looking for that break-out win, to show people that Penn is a team to reckon with." In 1997, a confident Penn squad entered its game against Dartmouth riding a 2-0 start, which included wins over La Salle and defending Ivy champ Harvard. Dreaming of the post-season, Penn hosted a Big Green team carrying a 1-1 record and coming off a loss at the hands of La Salle. By the time the dust settled at Rhodes Field, Dartmouth owned a hard-fought 1-0 victory, courtesy of a second-half put-in off a deflected penalty shot. The Big Green road the momentum to a nine-game unbeaten streak, a 10-4-4 record and an at-large bid to the NCAAs, ending with a second-round loss to Southern Methodist. The Quakers, meanwhile, never recovered from the setback to Dartmouth, losing seven straight games in a season culminating with the University's decision not to renew coach George O'Neill's contract. This season, the tables are turned, as Fuller travels to Hanover, N.H., with an overhauled and optimistic Penn team hungry for its first win of the season. "We definitely stepped up our level of training this week," tri-captain Ralph Maier, the Quakers' left outside midfielder, said. "The first Ivy League game is always a battle, and Dartmouth is a very physical team." The Quakers believe that Dartmouth, which squeaked out a 1-0, double-overtime victory over Maine on Tuesday, can be knocked from its nationally-ranked perch. "I don't think Dartmouth is prepared for us," Maier, a senior from Broadview Heights, Ohio, said. "I really think that we're going to get in there and surprise them." Junior Ted Lehman, who starts at defense for the Quakers, echoed Maier's confidence. "We're not intimidated. If anything, I think we're rather confident," Lehman said. "We had a good week of training and I think we'll be up for the challenge." For the Red and Blue to succeed this weekend, they will need to improve their offense. In two games this season, the Quakers have yet to score a goal. "This whole week we've been practicing our offense, our give-and-gos, our overlaps," defender Henry Chen, a sophomore from Mt. Laurel, N.J., said. "Our defense is pretty solid right now, we just have to get the ball upfield and put it in the net." However, if it's one thing that the Big Green, ranked 13th by Soccer America and 15th in the NSCAA poll, are especially strong at, it's keeping the ball out of the net. Dartmouth allowed just 13 goals in all of 1997, as All-Ivy First Team goalkeeper Matt Nyman posted eight shutouts and held Ivy League opponents to a miniscule 0.39 goals per game. In comparison, the Quakers let the ball in at a rate of 1.82 goals per game in '97. However, Fuller has complete confidence in his own goalkeeper, junior Mike O'Connor, the Ivy Rookie of the Year in 1996. "Nyman is a good keeper, but I truly believe O'Connor is as good or better," Fuller said. "Dartmouth should be at least as worried about O'Connor as we are for Nyman." For Fuller, nothing could be better this weekend than a return home with his first Penn coaching victory and a 1-0 Ivy League record for the Quakers. "Our goal is to make it to the NCAA tournament by winning the Ivy League regular season," Fuller said. "To beat Dartmouth, who I feel is the best team in the Ivies right now, would really put us in great position." The Penn-Dartmouth game is part of Dartmouth's two-day Umbro Soccer Classic. On Saturday, No. 10 Stanford plays No. 12 Boston University at 12:30 p.m., while the Quakers meet BU at 12:30 p.m. Sunday before the Big Green battle the Cardinals at 2:30 p.m.