If the men's soccer team has any hope of surviving this weekend's trip to Wisconsin, Penn coach Rudy Fuller knows the Quakers must step up their level of play.
The Red and Blue will face two solid teams in as many days when they square off against Wisconsin and host Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 32nd Coca-Cola Panther Invitational.
Currently, almost all tournaments play two games in three days rather than back-to-back. However, this weekend in Milwaukee will test the conditioning of the Quakers, who have been practicing together for less than two weeks.
"To play two games at the level that we are playing at is a very challenging thing in itself," Fuller said. "When you throw in that we are playing two quality programs, it just makes it that much bigger of a challenge. But I think it is a challenge our guys are ready for."
The Red and Blue not only have to deal with fatigue, but also hostile crowds as well as overcome the sting of a loss to Villanova in the season opener. The Quakers played well at times, but ultimately fell to the Wildcats, 3-1, in what Fuller described as a less than stellar performance.
"We had a lot of trouble defending corner kicks and defensive restarts," senior defenseman Erik Hallenbeck said. "I think that's just getting a little lazy mentally and not winning one-on-one battles."
Penn (0-1-0) quickly fell behind the Wildcats, 2-0, after two defensive lapses. The Quakers allowed Villanova junior Patrick Gallagher to get open on a corner kick, which led to the first goal. They later failed to clear a loose ball that was picked up and booted in by Villanova freshman Matt Sleece.
"We just want to put together a better all-around performance," Fuller explained. "We walked away from the game Sunday and felt we weren't close to playing at the level we are capable of playing at."
The Quakers defense cannot afford to miss a beat this weekend, as they contend with two dangerous offensive weapons in Wisconsin's Jed Hohlbein and Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Antou Jallow.
Hohlbein tallied a hat trick in the Badgers' 4-1 win over Dayton on Sunday, while Jallow racked up 10 goals and 23 points during the Panthers' 2003 campaign.
"They have got some guys on the attack that we need to keep an eye on," Fuller said. "But we're not going to change anything we do.
"We've got a deep team and a very balanced team. We don't really rely on any one player to shut down another team's dangerous guy and we don't rely on one player to score all our goals."
The Quakers are looking to come away with two wins, but if they fail to come away with any positive results, it could set a damaging mood for the season.
"Starting a season off 0-3 is putting yourself in a pretty deep hole," Hallenbeck said. "Hopefully this weekend we can put it together for 80 or 90 minutes instead of just half the game."
