John Rhodes knows exactly where all this trouble started.
It started with a ball against Dartmouth that ominously floated into Penn's goal box. It started when that ball inexplicably landed on the foot of Dartmouth's Lucas Richardson despite players on both teams running around the front of the goal like chickens with their heads cut off. It started when Richardson's shot found the back of the net and tied the Big Green with Penn with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
"When they tied it up, it seemed like we sort of lost our spirit," Rhodes said after the Quakers' loss to American yesterday, their fifth in a row.
Since that shot, Penn has not been the same. The Quakers had gone more than 400 minutes without leading in a game until they netted a beautiful goal against American.
Penn was flying high after cruising through the first half, but the ending to the match could not have been scripted in a more heartbreaking fashion. Once again Penn's opponent tied it in the final minutes with a blast from inside the goal box. To add insult to injury, American struck again in overtime to hand the Quakers their fifth loss in a row.
Four weeks ago, the Quakers could do no wrong, now it seems like nothing will go right. Against then-No. 14 Seton Hall, the Quakers gave up a fluke goal only 76 seconds in and couldn't recover. Then, facing Brown on Saturday, Penn surrendered the first goal of the game on a cross that didn't cross and instead went into the net.
The Red and Blue have had the wind knocked out of them time and time again and have not been able to get up -- yesterday was just another example.
"We didn't feel good about how we responded to those situations," Fuller said on Tuesday. "We needed to have a more urgent response to it and come back and try get the goal back and get ourselves going."
Neither Penn players nor their coaching staff was content with yesterday's performance either. In the past few games, the Quakers have juggled their lineup to some extent after it was almost concrete through the first half of the season.
"Who plays a certain game is based on the type of matchups we're going to have, the type of team we're playing and who's playing well for us at the time," Fuller said. "We're not going to make changes just for the sake of making changes."
But Penn has made significant changes. Sophomore Derrick Jumper, who started the first 13 games for the Quakers, has not seen a minute of playing time in the last two games. Jon Abelson, who has started sparingly for the Quakers and had been a staple off the bench earlier in the season, was nowhere to be found in Washington yesterday.
In fact, the Quakers used only one substitute against the Eagles and gave up two goals late in the game, during which fatigue could have been a factor. Fuller has often praised the Quakers for the depth of their bench this season, and it has provided Penn with a lot of support. But yesterday, the Quakers did not have the chance to do anything.
Penn seems to have drifted further and further away from the success that came so easily early in the season. With the amount of juggling the team is doing and its inability to respond to difficult situations, it appears unlikely the Quakers will fix their problems any time soon. But if Penn hopes to finish its season in a reputable manner, it needs to figure out something soon -- and changing things up does not appear to be the answer.
Although not yet mathematically eliminated from the Ivy League title race, Penn has been relegated to a spoiler role. In the wake of their six-game winless streak, the Quakers would hope that they could surprise someone. However, Princeton is the next game on Penn's schedule.
"Penn and Princeton could play in a checkers match and it would be competitive," Fuller said jokingly.
There is no way that the Quakers' biggest rival will look past them, especially when the Tigers are still in the thick of the title race. The remainder of this season has become a matter of pride for Penn. The Quakers must find a way to respond to adversity, not only to soothe the consciences of the seniors, but to set a precedent for the future.
Jeff Greenwald is a sophomore economics major from Cleveland. His e-mail address is: jbg@sas.upenn.edu.
