M. Soccer shut out by Big Red

Penn failed to capitalize on an early opporltunity as Cornell dominated play in a 2-0 victory. "You can't stand and watch them shoot!" Penn goalie Michael O'Connor screamed in frustration. Cornell midfielder Nathan Fuller's shot had just flew past the leaping Quakers senior into the upper-left part of the north-side net at Rhodes Field. The goal gave the Big Red a 1-0 lead en route to a 2-0 victory over the Quakers (0-3-2, 0-1-1 Ivy League) at Rhodes Field on Saturday. Penn started the game off with a flurry, controlling the ball for the first six minutes of the game. At one point, Quakers junior Mike McElwain had a clear shot at the net, as Big Red goalie Dan Demaine lay on the ground 10 feet in front of the goal after a shot he trapped was kicked out from underneath him. But McElwain's shot was deflected at the last minute off a Cornell player's chest. That missed opportunity seemed to suck the life out of the Quakers, as Cornell (3-3, 1-1) dominated much of the next half hour, capitalizing on Fuller's goal with 10:28 remaining before halftime. "We didn't capitalize early," Penn sophomore John Salvucci said, "and when things aren't going your way, frustration sets in." Although the sputtering Penn offense was held scoreless for the third time in five games, that frustration was what concerned Penn coach Rudy Fuller most. "Goals are going to come; that's not an issue," Fuller said. "Right now, I think our concern is we haven't had guys try to pick us up when something doesn't go our way." Jason Karageorge attempted to be the pick-me-up guy late in the first half. As Cornell sophomore Oswaldo Rodriguez was being attended to after taking a blow to the head, the Penn senior gathered the team in a huddle for a pep talk. "I basically wanted to put it all in perspective for them and wanted to let them know the game wasn't over," Karageorge said. The Quakers responded well in the final 7:43 before halftime but the intensity took a nosedive when the whistle blew to start the second half. Two minutes and 48 seconds later, Cornell sophomore Ted Papadopoulos scored off a few deflections following a corner kick to give the Big Red a commanding two-goal lead. "We didn't come out as strong as we would have like to the second half," Karageorge said. "They had a lot of big guys in the box, the ball's bouncing around and sort of by chance, it fell at [Papadopoulos'] feet." O'Connor made several impressive stops in the final 30 minutes -- including one against Cornell junior Richard Stimpson on a penalty kick with 51.9 seconds remaining -- to hold the Big Red to two goals. O'Connor ended with 13 saves. Demaine, who has been fighting fellow senior Andrew Barlon for the starting job in front of the net, earned his second consecutive shutout with nine saves on Saturday. The Big Red saw the game against Penn as a must-win after dropping their Ivy League opener to Princeton, 3-1, a week ago. "It was important for us to rebound and get out of the hole that we did dig," Cornell coach Bryan Scales said. "This was a real important match for us." On Penn's side, Fuller customarily gathered the team around for a post-game speech. But the second-year coach followed his speech by taking the seniors aside, urging them to take charge of the team on the field. "You can't expect the freshmen to be the ones picking us up," Fuller said. "It's got to come from the guys who have been through it before. And fortunately for us, we do have a senior class that's been through this type of thing before and knows how to turn things around." The Quakers have played their last two games without one of their senior starters, however. Defender Ted Lehman was hit in the head in practice a week ago and has not been cleared to return to action yet.

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