Daniel Cepero has some big shoes to fill.
Penn's sophomore goalie must replace the gaping hole left by predecessor Matt Haefner, who finished his career last season as one of the top goalies in Penn history.
Cepero, who had logged only 270 minutes of playing time as a freshman, got off to a rocky start in Penn's 3-1 loss Sunday at Villanova. He allowed his first goal just 127 seconds into Penn's opener.
Villanova freshman Danny DeMasters was able to push the ball past Cepero following a corner kick by Jonathan Lopuski. The senior lobbed the ball to junior Patrick Gallagher, who was able to free himself from Penn defenders and head the ball toward the goal. The ball found the foot of DeMasters before rolling into the net.
"It's tough when it's your first game of the season and you suffer a goal so quickly," Penn junior defender Erik Violante said.
As the game wore on, the Wildcats' freshmen continued to create problems for the Quakers' defense. Matt Sleece picked up a loose ball at the top of the box at the 30 minute mark and was able to boot it into the top right corner to give the Wildcats (1-0-1) a 2-0 lead.
The Quakers (0-1-0) answered with a scoring chance just before the half, but were unable to convert as Villanova cleared the first shot off the line and a second Quakers attempt went wide of the net.
"We kind of had to shake the cobwebs out," Penn coach Rudy Fuller noted. "It was our first game of the season and I think it showed in the first half."
The Quakers came out more crisp in the second frame. Violante was awarded a penalty kick in the 62nd minute after being taken down in the box. The junior made it count, as he sent his shot past a diving Craig Bald to cut the lead to 2-1.
"We started to pick up our play a little bit" after the goal, Violante said. "We were pressuring the ball a little bit better on the defensive side and we started to put together some nice offensive combinations."
However, as time began to run down, the Quakers began to push, resulting in several scoring chances for the Wildcats. The Villanova freshmen struck again late, this time with DeMasters hitting a streaking Mike Del Guercio, who guided the ball past Cepero to make it a 3-1 final.
"The third goal was the nail in the coffin," Fuller said. "Up until that point we were still" looking for a tie.
All three Villanova goals resulted from defensive breakdowns, and Fuller asserted that Cepero was able to maintain his focus and confidence throughout the game.
"It was unfortunate that he suffered three goals early in the season, but I think Cepero has done a good job filling in Haefner's position," Violante said.
Even when the Quakers knew what play was coming, they had trouble stopping it.
The first goal "was one of those things where we knew the play they were going to run, we had talked about it and prepared for it," said Fuller, who is entering his seventh season. "But they were still able to beat us on it."
Both Violante and Fuller acknowledged that the Red and Blue were unable to counter Villanova's strength -- its offensive restarts -- which resulted in three Villanova goals.
"We didn't deal with our defensive restarts well and that was the story of the game," Fuller reiterated. If the Quakers had handled the restarts, Fuller is certain they would have come away with at least at tie.
Now the Red and Blue must look to a difficult weekend in Milwaukee, where they will face Wisconsin and host Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Coca-Cola Panther Classic. Not only are the Quakers forced to go up against two solid teams in under 48 hours, but they must also deal with the hostile road environment.
"We're looking to come out and get a better start and just put together a better all-around performance," Fuller said. "It's a very challenging situation so we got our work cut out for us."
