The Penn men's soccer team cannot continue to rely on Daniel Cepero. The sophomore goalkeeper came up huge for the Quakers again yesterday, making nine saves against a dangerous Maryland team.
However, these were not just nine ordinary saves.
Less than seven minutes into the game, Cepero turned away a sure goal with two Maryland forwards bearing down on him. The pair of Terrapins tangled their feet, and Cepero was able to hop up and boot the ball out of bounds before either player could get off of the ground.
In the 30th minute, the man with the fourth-most points in the nation, Maryland's Jason Garey, broke behind the Penn defense and had a breakaway opportunity on Cepero. But once again, the goaltender coolly turned away the shot with a diving play to his left.
On the ensuing corner kick to the right of the goal, Maryland's Chris Lancos got his head on the ball while it was still in the air and sent it toward the far left corner of the goal. Again, Cepero made a diving save.
With 11 minutes to go in the first half, Maryland crossed the ball inside the 18-yard box and freshman Stephen King got his head on the ball, directing it right to an open teammate. Cepero made another spectacular initial save, but, for the first time in the game, failed to clear the rebound. The Terrapins' Domenic Mediate picked up the loose ball and had an open net, but the fast-closing Quakers defense forced the ball wide.
Cepero was just as sharp in the second half, diving to his left to save a header after a corner kick and gobbling the ball up before anyone could touch it.
In the 52nd minute, the Terrapins finally rolled a ball past the human wall, but it followed a defensive collapse after a series of fancy footwork by King. The freshman crossed the ball through the six-yard box and Mediate volleyed it in without giving Cepero even a chance for the save.
Penn's force in net continued to keep the game close even after the goal, as Cepero made four more saves before the day was done.
This was not the first time that Cepero has helped to bail out the Quakers or keep them in a game this season. Three times in 11 games, the Penn goalie has made eight or more saves, and he has put together five shutouts to boot.
Maryland came in with a chip on its shoulder -- Penn was ranked 11 spots ahead of the Terrapins in the latest NSCAA/adidas national rankings. However, Maryland's performance demonstrated that, at this point in the season, the Terrapins are on a different level from the Quakers.
Penn was completely outplayed by the Terrapins in the first half. The Quakers only forced Maryland goalkeeper Noah Palmer to make one save, and the Red and Blue had no good scoring chances. Meanwhile, Maryland should have gone into the locker room with at least a 2-0 lead, having missed the goal on two shots that were only a good strike away from being gifts.
Early in the game, Penn came out flat, a recurring problem this season that the team had seemingly corrected. The Quakers, at times, showed that they have the talent to play with teams like Maryland, but fell into multiple lazy spells. They were simply getting beat to balls by a quicker, more hungry Terrapins team.
There is no doubt that the Quakers have the ability to play with almost any team in the country on any given day. The problem is they routinely do not show up for the whole game. And when this happens, the onus falls squarely on the shoulders of Cepero.
So far this year, the goaltender, who was not even recruited by Penn, has risen to the challenge whenever called upon. Cepero has already surpassed any expectations and one cannot help but compare him to former Penn goalie Matt Haefner, who was drafted by Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew after graduating last spring.
Cepero has made it clear that he can carry the Quakers this far, maybe even to an Ivy League title. But if Penn wants to go any further, it cannot rely on Cepero to be spectacular every game. The Quakers have to put together quality matches against quality teams in which Cepero is the afterthought, not the story.
Jeff Greenwald is a sophomore economics major from Cleveland. His e-mail address is: jbg@sas.upenn.edu.
