End of scoring drought may be in sight as M. Soccer travels to play St. Francis

Two hundred forty-eight minutes. That's the amount of time it takes to fly from Philadelphia to Denver. That's about 20 minutes longer than it takes to watch The Ten Commandments and a half-hour longer than Ben-Hur. It's also the length of the Penn men's soccer team's scoring drought. After netting two goals in their season opener, the Quakers' offense appeared poised to break out of the scoring slump that plagued the team all of last year. But two games later, Penn is still searching for its third goal of the season. "A lot of guys have been staying after practice trying to figure out a way to get the goal in the back of the net," senior Reggie Brown said. "We're getting in good chances, good services. It's just the final play that just hasn't been working for us." Luckily for the Quakers, their next opponent, St. Francis (Pa.), should offer the offense a perfect opportunity to make the scoreboard operator earn his keep. Penn (0-1-2) will match up against the Red Flash (1-3) today at 3 p.m. in Loretta, Pa., hoping for a repeat of last year's performance. The Quakers, after scoring just four goals in 11 games, broke out of their offensive slump last October by scoring three goals against St. Francis. Brown had three assists in that game, while sophomore Evan Anderson and junior Mike McElwain, both forwards, each scored a goal in the contest. "I think last year we were just very sharp on the day," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "We really got at them and put them under a lot of pressure. They're a team that if you put them under pressure you'll do very well against them." St. Francis has had little success stopping other teams from scoring in 1999; the Red Flash have given up an average of three goals in their four games this season. But St. Francis' high goals-against average is more a result of style of play than defensive deficiency. "What I admire about St. Francis is they try and play the game," Fuller said. "I expect the ball to move a bit more on the ground than against Dartmouth. I do expect a different game." The Quakers have been working in practice the past two days on playing a different game. Yesterday the team concentrated on crosses and goal-scoring drills in an effort to take advantage of scoring opportunities. If Sunday's game was any indication, the offensive work this week should pay off today. After working last week on being more creative offensively, Penn had 27 shots against Dartmouth after totaling 16 in its first two games. "McElwain, Evan [Anderson] and [freshman] Billy Libby tried some different things in the game," Brown said. "That's what opened up more chances for us and that's why we had so many shots." The Quakers will face a very young St. Francis team today, as the Red Flash sports only one senior. The two leading St. Francis goal scorers are freshman Mike Giardetti and sophomore Matt Rosenfeld, while the Red Flash have another freshman, Joe Alianiello, guarding the net. But the youthful St. Francis team can still pull off an upset against Penn by playing to its strengths. "They're a very defensively sound team and are very good at drawing their entire team back and pulling things off and counterattacking," Penn senior Jason Karageorge said. Because the Quakers enter the game as the favorite, however, they can afford to attack to open the game. "I know that we're gonna come out and be really offensive minded," Penn goalie Michael O'Connor said. "We want to try to get a bunch of goals." Two goals would constitute a bunch for the Quakers and St. Francis has given up at least two goals in each of its four games this season. Penn could not ask for a more ideal opportunity to end its 248-minute scoring dry spell.

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