Things aren't so cheery right now for the Penn men's soccer team. The Quakers opened their 2003 campaign with two overtime losses in their own tournament, the Penn/Kappa Soccer Classic.
This season's disappointing start comes after the Quakers claimed the Ivy League crown for the first time in 22 years and won a College Cup game for the first time in 29 years last season.
But right now as the Red and Blue prepare for the Princeton Soccer Classic and two more games against tough non-league opponents in Towson and Loyola, something must change.
Last year's water-tight defense sprang a leak this past weekend against both Lehigh and Villanova.
Returning Ivy League Player of the Year, goalkeeper Matt Haefner, didn't look his best and the defense in front of him looked disorganized and flustered at times.
Maybe it was just early season jitters working their way out in the Quakers' first few games.
Penn did lose captain and first-team All-Ivy defender Nate Kennedy to graduation. Kennedy served as the team's defensive anchor in 2002 alongside now junior and co-captain Erik Hallenbeck.
With Kennedy gone and sophomore defender Justin Estrada sidelined with an injury, Penn started freshman Andy Howard at right back in both games.
In addition, Fuller changed his team's formation this season, switching from a traditional 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, to compensate for a lack of competent defenders, leaving just three defenders in front of Haefner, one of whom had never seen action in a college soccer game.
While Howard performed admirably in both games, even clearing a sure goal off the line for Penn against Villanova, he expressed concern after Penn's loss to the Wildcats.
"It was tough with only three backs," Howard said. "Especially in the second half and overtime when they were sending five or six guys at us."
In last year's run for the Ivy League crown, the Red and Blue relied heavily on their stonewall defense. Penn won 11 games by just one goal last year and four of those wins came in overtime.
Furthermore, Haefner and the Penn defense earned 10 shutouts over the course of the year and allowed just seven goals in 15 regular season games.
Three goals found the back of the Penn net last weekend.
No one is questioning Penn's talent. The Quakers return nine of 11 starters from last year's team that climbed as high as No. 14 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. In addition, seven members of the team earned All-Ivy nods -- three first-team, one second-team and three honorable mention selections.
Nonetheless, Fuller knows that something must change if the Quakers are to get back on the winning track and have a season like last year's.
"Until we take responsibility as a team collectively, we're not going to be able to benefit from our talent," Fuller said after Sunday's loss to Villanova.
Does Fuller think that his team's accomplishments have gotten to their heads a bit? The Quakers did go from the bottom half of the League to Ivy champions in just one year.
Only one of Penn's seven All-Ivy honorees from last year received any recognition after the 2001 season. Then-freshman Stephen Kroculick earned an honorable mention selection.
At this point, two games down with two critical games on the horizon, the Red and Blue must regroup if they are going to make a run at another Ivy title.
At the beginning of the year, Hallenbeck mentioned the concept of "Penn creating a winning program."
This season offers the Quakers a chance to prove that they are a legitimate force both in the Ivy League and nationally. But it will take a more organized effort and a reliance on what worked last year for Penn to find success in 2003.
