According to the polls, the statistics and the history books, Brown men's soccer should be a lock to win the Ivy League this year.
The Bears went 6-0-1 in the Ancient Eight last season, with their only tie to runner-up Yale. They are ranked No. 20 in the latest NSCAA/Adidas national rankings, and just completed a successful West Coast trip -- earning ties against national powerhouses No. 10 Cal and Stanford. Not to mention Brown has taken home at least a share of the Ivy championship seven of the last 10 seasons.
But all of these arguments become moot this weekend, as all eight Ivy League teams open conference play tomorrow.
"You've got a number of teams in the league that are capable of winning it," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "Whoever gets off to a good start and plays well consistently is going to have a shot to win and this year that could be any number of teams."
Penn begins its journey through the draining Ivy League season in Ithaca, N.Y., as the Quakers face Cornell in a rare night game.
The Big Red stumble into the game having lost six of its first seven contests. However, the Red and Blue cannot afford to take Cornell lightly. Three of the Big Red's six losses have been by just one goal -- including a double-overtime loss to Lehigh to open the season -- and Cornell just picked up its first win against Gonzaga at the Oregon State Classic last week.
"Every Ivy League game is extremely challenging," Fuller said. "Everything hinges upon the regular season games, so all of the games carry an equal importance. It makes every game very difficult."
The Big Red has scored fewer goals per game than any team in the Ivy League with 0.57 and have also allowed the second- most goals per game, 2.14.
The Quakers, meanwhile, have shown unexpected explosiveness in their offense, scoring 11 goals in seven games, led by senior Stephen Kroculick's three. Penn should be able to put up points against a Cornell defense that has shown a variety of deficiencies, especially in its goaltending. Starter David Mahoney has a measly .707 save percentage, over a tenth of a point lower than the Quakers' goalie, Daniel Cepero.
Cepero has provided an element of stability in the Penn goal box after the departure of All-American Matt Haefner to graduation last season.
Penn's solid play early in the season was rewarded this week, as the Red and Blue moved up to No. 4 in the Middle Atlantic regional rankings.
There is added importance placed on each Ivy League game, since the conference champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament without participating in an Ivy League tournament. Essentially, each matchup becomes a playoff game -- no team has won the league with more than one loss since 1975.
"We're going up [to Cornell] to win," Fuller said. "Winning your first Ivy League game is crucial."
It becomes even more important because a loss means that the Quakers would have to go through the rest of their conference schedule undefeated to have any hopes of winning the league title.
