Hoyas spoil Fuller's D.C. reunion

The game plan was simple: Shut down Georgetown forwards Nate Port and Kenny Owens and the Penn men's soccer team would claim victory in Penn coach Rudy Fuller's return to his alma mater.

In their collegiate career, Hoyas seniors Port and Owens have a combined 49 goals and 118 points.

Against the Quakers, Port and Owens managed zero goals on a mere four shots total.

Penn lost 2-1. Go figure.

"If we are holding [Port and Owens] to four shots in a game, I feel pretty good about the effort on those two players," Fuller said. "However, we just didn't get it done on the offensive end."

Despite the Quakers' continued scoring woes -- in its current three-match losing streak, Penn has scored a combined two goals -- the Red and Blue were in position to earn a tie until the game's final seconds.

With the score knotted at one, and under 15 seconds remaining in the match, the Hoyas earned a throw-in deep in Penn territory.

Port, throwing the ball in for Georgetown, launched the ball into the Quakers box, beginning a chaotic series of deflections that ultimately culminated in Georgetown freshman Dan Gargan's game-winning goal with two seconds left.

"The guy just heaved the ball in the box," Fuller said. "It was just a crazy play. A couple of bounces and the ball was past [Penn] keeper [Matt Haefner] and he had no chance."

At the beginning of the match, it seemed as if the Quakers were finally beginning to display the offensive potential that the team's tremendous front line talent would suggest.

"We came out very focused and intense," Fuller said. "We were able to move the ball and break the Hoyas down in the first part of the game and create a very good goal."

Freshman Steve Kroculick's second goal of the season at 18:24 of the first half gave the Quakers an early advantage.

Instead of continuing to attack the Hoyas, however, Penn became complacent with its lead and lost its aggressiveness on the offensive end.

"We kind of got away from what we were doing very well," Fuller said. "We could've really taken it to the Hoyas and we let it slip away."

As the Quakers struggled to mount an offensive attack, Georgetown rebounded from its slow start and began challenging Penn on the defensive end.

"Our backline held up real well against the Hoyas," Fuller said. "[John] Salvucci played another real good game back there."

Ultimately, the potent Hoyas attack was able to break down Penn's formidable defense, as Hoyas' junior Truls Engelbretsen notched his first goal of the season off of an assist from Kaisy Chowdry.

The goal seemed to take the life out of an already languid Quakers team.

Despite the fact that the game would remain tied until the match's final minutes, Penn was unable to recover after Engelbretsen's goal and failed to mount a significant offensive challenge for the remainder of the contest.

"When the game demanded us to step it up a notch, we weren't able to kick it into a higher gear," Fuller said. "We didn't exactly play our best for the rest of the match."

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