M. Soccer downs Temple to pick up first win

David Bonder scored the game-winning goal as the Quakers beat Soccer 7 rival Temple to earn their first win of the year. The ailment: a five-game winless streak to start the season. The cure: play Temple. For the second consecutive year, the Penn men's soccer team headed into its game against Temple with a zero in the wins column. And for the second consecutive year, the Quakers pulled out a one-goal victory. After knocking off Temple 1-0 last year for win No. 1, the Quakers (1-3-2) did it again yesterday, coming away with a 2-1 win at Temple Stadium. Senior midfielder David Bonder, who did not enter the game until the second half, one-timed the game-winning goal past Temple keeper Drew Moser eight minutes and 24 seconds before the final horn sounded. Senior Reggie Brown had dribbled the ball past midfield and dished to freshman Justin Litterelle, who faked out his defender and slid a pass to a waiting Bonder. However, Bonder's goal would have only tied the game if not for the play of Penn goalie Michael O'Connor. Although O'Connor was only credited with five saves for the day, he singlehandedly kept the score knotted with a diving save of a Temple header. "We really ask him to make one or two big saves a game," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "If he pulls that off, we're in really good position to win it." The Quakers dominated Temple (3-4-1) from the opening whistle and nearly scored three times in the first 12 minutes. Senior Jason Karageorge and Litterelle both saw their shots hit the post before converted-forward William Libby's left-footed shot found the net 11:13 into the game. "I got a really good ball out of the back from [Penn defender] John Salvucci," Libby said. "I took a player on in the box, hit a pretty good shot and it went in the goal." But Penn would need more than one goal to come out victorious yesterday. The start of the second half mirrored the start of the first half, except this time it was Temple dominating play from the outset. The Owls finally evened the score 15 minutes into the second half. Temple senior Pat Murphy headed a direct kick from fellow senior Kevin Kelly to tie the score. In past games, Penn has had difficulty maintaining its intensity after surrendering a goal, but the Quakers buckled down following the goal yesterday. "Everyone was harping on getting back into it," O'Connor said. "In the past we kind of had a little letdown but we actually kind of got fired up and got back in the game." Intensity had been Fuller's primary worry following the Quakers' loss to Cornell on Saturday, so the second-year coach had asked his seniors to be more vocal. And that's what happened yesterday afternoon. "We were real vocal," O'Connor said. "The seniors tried to get guys going. And, fortunately, we even had underclassmen talking a lot on the field." The game had a very physical edge to it as the two teams combined for 36 fouls and two yellow cards. Penn dominated the stat sheet with the Quakers outshooting Temple 13-2 in the first half and 29-9 overall. "It's indicative of how sharp we were in the attack on the afternoon," Fuller said. "We had a very good first half on the attack. We were being sharp on the ball, we created a lot of chances and those resulted in the shot totals." Usual offensive threats Libby and Brown combined for nine of the Quakers' 29 shots. Shots were coming from everyone on Penn's team, however; defenders William Lee and Karageorge took four shots each. But Penn insists it did not change its game plan against the Owls. "We got some shots off corner kicks and stuff," Lee said. "That was pretty much the difference. We stuck with the same defensive plan." The Quakers played the game without two of their steady contributors as injuries kept both defender Ted Lehman and midfielder Alex Maasry out of the contest. This win, Penn's first of the season, also marks the first collegiate win for the Quakers freshmen. And they could sense a different attitude in the team yesterday. "For the first time since I've been at Penn, I sensed that, no matter what, we weren't going to lose that game," Libby said. "That was the first time I saw it from everyone on the team." Last year, Brown scored the lone goal against Temple to raise the Quakers' record to 1-5. Penn did not start quite as poorly this year -- two of its first five games ended in ties -- but the Quakers again found themselves winning their first game against the Owls. "It's just a coincidence," O'Connor said. However, as Penn's 17-5-5 all-time record against the Owls shows, a game against its cross-city rivals is usually a good confidence-builder. "We did what we're supposed to do," Fuller said. "We're a talented enough team that we should beat Temple." With a victory over the Owls, Penn curbed a two-game losing streak. But the Quakers must wait until their game against Columbia on Saturday to see whether yesterday's game has cured the Quakers' early season losing syndrome.