M. Soccer to face Big Red in search of league win

The Penn men's soccer team is likely to face a tight, defensive battle tomorrow at Cornell. When the teams line up for the kickoff tomorrow at Cornell's Berman Field, the Quakers (0-4, 0-1 Ivy) will be staring across at a Big Red team which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Penn squad. "Cornell's a lot like us," Penn's Ted Lehman said. "I think we match up extremely well with them." The Quakers are winless thus far in four games. However, three of those losses have come against nationally-ranked teams. Last weekend at the Dartmouth Umbro Hypertherm Tournament, the Quakers fell to No. 15 Dartmouth 3-1 despite holding a 1-0 lead. The following day, Penn fell victim to No. 12 Boston University in a tight, 2-1 match. "I thought we outplayed BU and deserved to win," Fuller said. "If it weren't for a world-class goal [by BU] we would've come home with a tie." Cornell began its '98 campaign on a similar note, losing its first three contests. The Big Red's most recent loss came at the hands of North Carolina. Cornell, which led 1-0, fell to the Tar Heels 2-1 in overtime. "Records don't indicate what kind of teams are playing tomorrow," Cornell coach Bryan Scales said. "Rudy [Fuller] has his guys playing really well, and we're headed in the right direction, too." The similarities between the teams, however, extends beyond the coincidence of close-but-no-cigar performances by both teams against top competition. Both the Quakers and the Big Red are trying to recover from subpar '97 seasons after excellent campaigns in '96. In '96, Penn (4-3) and Cornell (3-2-2) tied for second in the Ivy League with eight points. Penn notched its first winning campaign in 12 years, while Cornell earned an at-large NCAA tournament bid. Coming out of the gate in '97 with high expectations, both teams fell flat. Penn finished last in the Ivies with a 1-6 record, while Cornell achieved a similar fate at 1-5-1 -- its only victory a 2-1 OT win over the Quakers. Both teams ushered in young new coaches in the hopes of righting their respective ships for the '98 season. Both Penn's Rudy Fuller and Cornell's Bryan Scales will be gunning for their first Ivy win tomorrow when the teams meet at 1 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y. All of these factors mean both teams will be hungry and both teams will feel the need to prove something with a victory when the Quakers and Big Red clash. "I think it will be a real battle, a must-win situation for both teams," Penn freshman midfielder Aaron Cohen said. Though Cornell beat Penn into the win column with a 3-1 victory over Iona on Wednesday, the Quakers feel confident given their close matches with top national competition. "We definitely think we're going to win. We're a different team than the one [Cornell] beat last year," Quakers midfielder Reggie Brown said. Brown, a junior, has logged significant minutes at striker in Penn's single-forward offense. "We're ready to break out with a win." While Penn's offense has sputtered with just two goals, the Quakers defense has been steady. Scales, however, feels that Cornell's biggest strength is also defense. "Our defense has been steady this year, they've played well," Scales said. "As a team overall, though, we're still tweaking things to find out where we're headed." With both teams so evenly matched, the outcome of Saturday's contest could be determined by one or two plays. Penn hopes that its focused training this week and positive attitude -- despite the four setbacks-- will give the Quakers the advantage. "After BU, everyone was positive. We were like, 'We're right there, we're staring to score goals. We just have to hold the lead,' " Penn goalie Mike O'Connor, the '96 Ivy Rookie of the Year, said. "We're excited, and if we put the pieces together we have an opportunity coming up to win a bunch of games." Should Penn emerge victorious on Sunday, it would have a legitimate shot at winning three straight by the end of next week. On Tuesday, the Quakers host Temple, owners of a 1-5-1 record, while on Saturday they welcome struggling Ivy foe Harvard (1-3, 0-1).