The Penn men's soccer team was almost evenly matched with its Mid-Atlantic Region rivals on Rhodes Field this weekend.
It wasn't enough to get a win.
It wasn't enough to get a tie.
In the Penn/Kappa Soccer Classic Penn (0-2) lost to both Lehigh (3-1-1) and Villanova (3-3) in overtime, 1-0 and 2-1, respectively.
In Friday's game, the Engineers had to wait until the final 10 seconds of the second overtime to find a soft spot in Penn's defense, with Lehigh defender Adam Williamson scoring to put a dagger in the collective Penn heart.
"I saw the far post wide open, the wind just took it right over," Williamson said. "The keeper was pinching a little bit, so luckily it went in."
Penn and Lehigh battled for 109 scoreless minutes, with both defenses holding strong.
"We knew coming in that they were a very good defensive team, that they'd be content to sit back and let us have the run of play," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "We just weren't good enough to break them down and get a result."
The first half of play was mainly on Penn's end of the field, with Lehigh getting the majority of scoring opportunities.
In the opening minutes of play, third-team All-American goalkeeper Matt Haefner had to make two saves with Engineer forwards only feet away.
"I wouldn't say either team really controlled it, it was just poor soccer all-around," junior co-captain defender Erik Hallenbeck said. "It was played a lot in the middle third of the field."
Penn's coach had a different interpretation.
"They had more offensive opportunities because they were outworking us," Fuller said. "They were beating us to every ball and that can't happen when you're playing at home."
Penn had a slightly more pronounced presence on the offensive side of the field in the second half, but it was the overtime periods that brought out the level of play that earned the Red and Blue a No. 25 ranking in the NCAA polls.
"We were getting to the goal and finally got fired up," Penn sophomore midfielder Arthur Bartholomew said.
"We weren't good enough on the day to break down a very organized team," Fuller said. "We had a number of our more experienced guys make uncharacteristically poor decisions at different times in the game."
Yesterday's match against Villanova was a similarly defensive-minded game.
However, the first 90 minutes were kinder to the Quakers this time, as Penn sophomore Erik Violante scored a goal to the right side of the net on a penalty kick in the 53rd minute.
"I just tried to keep my eye on the goalie to see if he made a move," Violante said of his first goal of the season.
However, the Quakers defense seemed vulnerable yesterday, with Villanova freshman Marcelo Rodriguez putting both goals past Haefner in the contest, the second in the 94th minute.
"We're still having trouble recognizing who has control of the ball," Violante said.
"It's certainly not lack of effort... a lot of it is communication, which we work on in practice."
"It was tough with only three backs, especially in the second half and overtime when they were sending five or six guys at us," freshman defender Andy Howard said. "It definitely got a little confusing."
Howard helped stop Villanova from defeating the Quakers in the regulation by making many impressive stops, including kicking a Villanova shot out of play just as it approached the Quakers' net, tripping over the post in the process.
"I was just trying not to run into the post," Howard said.
Fuller remained critical after yesterday's defeat.
"We're still not firing on all cylinders," Fuller said.
"Until we take responsibility as a team collectively, we're not going to be able to benefit from our talent."
