The Penn men's soccer team had dropped four straight games heading into its tussle with American yesterday.
For most of the game, the Quakers looked as though they would be able to stop the bleeding, but the Eagles stormed back to claim a 2-1 victory in overtime.
Despite missing junior Justin Estrada, who was red-carded in the previous game, the Quakers fought hard in the first half, scoring a goal midway through the opening frame.
After the Penn defense forced a turnover, junior Artie Bartholomew picked up the ball in the middle of the field. The talented left wing scorched his defender, beating him to the end line.
From there, Bartholomew found senior Stephen Kroculick in front of the net for his team-leading fifth goal.
"We played a very good first half. We were up 1-0 and put together one of our better goals of the year," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said.
"We came out in the second half. I felt a little bit slow, and they got on top of us a bit," he added.
Unfortunately, the Quakers could not hold off American for the entire game. Shawn Kuykendall tied things up with less than seven minutes remaining off an assist from Sal Caccavale.
"American was definitely fired up after the goal," Fuller said. "I thought the guys did well to get through the rest of regulation."
After the score, the Eagles intensified their attack, "throwing the kitchen sink at [Penn] to get the win in regulation," Fuller said.
However, the Quakers pushed the game into overtime, only to be beaten by a corner-kick goal off the head of David Marut.
Despite the close score, the Quakers were again severely outshot, 23-4. Sophomore Daniel Cepero was forced to make nearly three times as many saves (11) as the Quakers had shots.
The save total was a career high for Cepero, who had given up nine goals in the previous two games.
Although the Eagles were getting off a wealth of shots, Penn senior defender Erik Hallenbeck said, "The majority of those shots were from outside the box."
"It wasn't really until the second half that they got their defense behind them or any of their chances became dangerous," Hallenbeck said.
Fuller, who has used his reserves liberally throughout Penn's 2004 campaign, only brought in freshman Jonathon Blackwell in yesterday's game.
"There are guys who have seen time this year and haven't seen time recently," Fuller said.
"The decision as to who is going to play in a certain game is based on the matchups we're going to have," he added.
Conspicuously absent from the lineup for the last few games has been forward Derrick Jumper. He had started much of the season and is still third on the team in points.
Starting in his place was senior Matthew Waddell, who has only recorded one assist and no goals in 10 appearances.
However, with the Quakers' sputtering offense (three goals in the last five games), Fuller may be trying different lineups in hopes of finding the goal that will snap the current five-game spiral.
PENN 1 0 0 -- 1American 0 1 1 -- 2
Goals: 1. Kroculick (P) 24:00 (Bartholomew); 2. Kuykendall (A) 83:19 (Caccavale); 3. Marut (A) 98:00 (Zaron)
