A good indicator of the Penn men's soccer team's strength is that they can bench their All-American goaltender and still shut out a local rival.
On Wednesday, the Quakers cruised to a 5-0 win over Philadelphia University, giving Penn the perfect momentum booster for tomorrow's Ivy League matchup at Columbia.
While Penn coach Rudy Fuller said he wanted to give senior Matt Haefner a chance to "clear [his] head," Daniel Cepero allowed him to do just that. The freshman stepped between the posts for all 90 minutes and shut out the opposition in his first collegiate game.
Haefner "has played every minute of every game for at least two years," Fuller said. "Danny had done very well in training so we thought he deserved a chance."
"He looked pretty solid in there," Haefner said. "It was good for him to get in the game."
The substitution could also foreshadow next year's competition for Haefner's spot.
"Getting a shutout in his first college start shows we have a good situation," Fuller said.
When asked if either of the two other underclassman goaltenders would see playing time against Ivy League foes, Fuller said, "We are going to play the guys that deserve to play."
Fuller also said that despite the Quakers' impressive showing on Wednesday, Penn is focused on Columbia this weekend.
"We have enough experienced guys that they know one game doesn't make a season," he said.
Players and coaches agreed that the Columbia match will be more difficult than last weekend's 1-0 loss to Cornell.
"It will be an all-out war," Fuller said. "It's a must-win for them because they can't lose their first two games at home" after losing to Brown in overtime, 1-0.
"They are a better Ivy League team than Cornell, a game we should have won," junior forward David Maier said. "It will be another tough game away."
According to Fuller, the playing styles of Cornell and Columbia are like night and day, noting that the Big Red are not as organized on defense.
Columbia has "more talented individual players and are more dangerous on the attack," Fuller said.
"There will be more soccer playing than Cornell, which was just kicking the ball down the field," Haefner said. "They have more skilled and crafty players."
Because of last week's loss, this game has turned into a must-win for the Quakers, too.
"We have labeled this a critical week for Penn," Maier said. "We are going to try to get back on track and see if we can turn things around."
But the Quakers seem to be ready for the challenge.
"Our team has a history of stepping up and meeting challenges in difficult situations," Fuller said. "We feel good enough about our team and the way we've been playing that we can just try to play and get a result."
