Brown's Marcio finishes M. Soccer with penalty kick in R.I.

Even the most casual soccer fans know the number one dictum of the world's most popular game -- a Brazilian player without a last name must be good. PelZ. Ronaldo. Romario. Bebeto. Marcio. Saturday, Brown sophomore and soccer dynamo Marcio blasted a penalty kick past Penn goalkeeper Mike O'Connor 31:19 into the game, giving the Bears (10-2-1, 3-0-1 Ivy League) the only score they would need as Brown dropped the visiting Quakers 2-0 at Stevenson Field. The loss ended Penn's two-game winning streak and left the Quakers (3-9-1, 0-4-1) still searching for their first Ivy win. "Some people just have to step up and take the responsibility. I'm glad that I was the one who stepped up, and I'm glad that I scored," Marcio said of his fifth goal of the season. "I like taking PKs [penalty kicks]. I always have." The last name -- Schittini -- of this Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native has been omitted since he burst onto the Ancient Eight soccer scene last year. Marcio notched six goals and 16 points as a freshman in '97. A questionable yellow-card foul call on Penn sweeper Tom Hughes, who locked up with Brown forward Chris Dodson inside the 18, set up Marcio's penalty shot. "Dodson beat [Penn defender] John Salvucci and was coming right at me down the right side. I turned my body all the way around to chase him after he touched the ball by me," Hughes said. "It was a footrace right to the goal. He got the edge on me, and pushed me with his hand to get further past me. "I was still running to get the ball, and the ref saw me trying to push my hand around him, trying to get inside, and we both went down." Penn coach Rudy Fuller believed the whistle should have been blown earlier, outside the 18-yard box. Quakers tri-captain O'Connor was more blunt in his opinion of the referee's call. "They got their legs tangled and the ref called it a penalty shot, so it was a bad call," said O'Connor -- who made two saves in the game. With the exception of the foul and subsequent penalty kick, the first half featured even play by both squads. In the locker room, Fuller emphasized to his squad that though the game was evenly played in the first half, he felt that Penn could tighten up its passing game and come out stronger after the break. "It was just a question of cleaning up our play a little bit," Penn junior Ted Lehman said. Meanwhile, Bears coach Michael Noonan envisioned other plans for his team in the second half. "In the locker room, we talked about scoring early in the second half," Marcio said. "That way, we could have a little more composure with a two-goal lead and be sure that our defense wouldn't let down." In the battle of halftime pep talks, Noonan KO'd Fuller. The Bears could hardly wait for play to begin, scoring goal number two a mere 19 seconds into the second half. The entire sequence surrounding the quick score by Brown's Anders Kelto seems to have shocked the Quakers, as each player involved recounted it with a slightly different spin. "Mike O'Connor got taken out of the play somehow, and it kind of got banged in off somebody's leg," Salvucci said. O'Connor remembered the goal --for which Dodson and Marcio were credited with assists -- as hitting off a Penn defender's leg. "It was kind of a weak goal," O'Connor said. "[Kelto] shot it, it went off the post, it was banging around in front of the net, and then it just went in off one of the defenders." "We weren't ready for it. Their midfielder came down and crossed the ball," Hughes said. "Another guy was running in, he shot it, it hit the post, and somebody came in and followed it in for the goal." Regardless of how Brown managed to find the net so quickly, the score seriously deflated the Quakers' chances of knocking off the Ivy-League leading Bears. Though the Red and Blue managed seven more shots in the half, they failed to find the net for the eighth time this season. It was the first time Penn -- which beat St. Mary's and St. Francis last week to up its goal total from three to seven -- had been shut out since October 16. "I'm happy with the way things are going right now," Fuller said. "We made two mistakes, and Brown capitalized on them. Otherwise, it was an even game. We're still looking to win -- that's the bottom line."

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