Knocking off the defending Ivy League champs on the road during the Bears' homecoming weekend was a lot to ask of a young Quakers squad.
It was too much to ask.
With slightly over 10 and a half minutes remaining in yesterday's game, Bears senior Adrian Rapp scored the contest's only goal, beating Penn goalkeeper Matt Haefner to give Brown a 1-0 victory.
"It was a tough goal to give up," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "We played them tough for the majority of the game, and I feel like we certainly deserved to win this game."
Nathan Kennedy had a final scoring opportunity for the Quakers (6-5-1 overall, 2-2-0 Ivy), rifling a shot on the Brown net with five seconds remaining in the match.
But Bears goalkeeper Christian Gomez stretched to deflect Kennedy's shot over the bar to keep the final score intact.
"Nathan had a really good attempt in the final seconds," Fuller said. "Their goalkeeper just made a real good save."
The shot by Kennedy was one of only a handful of good scoring chances for the Quakers, as Penn struggled against a more defensive-minded opponent.
The Bears (4-6-2, 2-1-1) employed the same passive style that Rutgers used to knock off Penn last week, employing their halfbacks more as extra-defenders than additional attackers.
The strategy forced the Quakers to be the attacking squad and gave them greater time in possession of the ball.
But effectively beating such a system places greater pressure on the offense, requiring Penn to have additional precision with its passes in the midfield and greater organization with its overall attack -- something the Quakers' offense has not done consistently.
"We're having a difficult time breaking down teams that are organized and poised to defend us," Fuller said. "You've got to be really sharp to break a team like that down."
"We played too direct, too straightforward, and not enough passing and keeping the ball," Penn senior tri-captain Evan Anderson added. "We got stuck playing their style instead of ours."
Part of the Quakers' difficulties stem from the fact that Penn's offensive unit -- with freshmen Stephen Kroculick and Joe Klein starting at forward -- is also its most inexperienced.
However, the Quakers don't believe this is the cause of their offensive struggle.
"I think by this point in the season, much of our younger players have become acclimated to the game," Anderson said. "This is not an excuse anymore."
Rather, Penn believes that it's lack of intensity that has caused the Quakers to falter in recent contests.
"Although it's a huge disappointment, we just didn't go out with the intention of winning," Anderson said. "Against a good team like Brown you've got to really want it and we didn't show that we did."
