M. Soccer keeps Ivy hopes alive with dramatic double-OT win

In an eventful finish that featured a few fierce collisions, a breakaway, a red card and double overtime, the Penn soccer team used last minute heroics to top Dartmouth 1-0 on Saturday. Defender Keith Vereb scored the game winner with just over a minute left to get the Quakers their second straight Ivy League overtime win. With the win the Quakers (8-3-0) move to 2-1 in the Ivy League, only a half-game behind Brown and Cornell. The loss was Dartmouth's first in the league, and only their second on the season, as they move into a third place tie with Penn. The defending champions' chances against the Quakers took a huge blow when in the 84th minute Jon Abelson found a streaking Richard Bruchett down the heart of the Big Green defense. In a desperate effort, keeper Rowan Anders touched the ball outside the box, a play that may have saved a goal but got him sent off, and forced the Big Green down to ten men. It took Penn some 25 minutes to capitalize off of the man advantage, but they finally broke the stalemate with a goal in the 109th minute, keeping their title hopes alive. The Quakers did not play their best soccer of the year, but found a way to come out on top against an all-around solid Dartmouth squad. "We didn't feel like we were at our best tonight, and Dartmouth posed some questions that we were unable to answer," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "But I give the guys a lot of credit for battling through and getting a result in a game that was not easy to play in ... every game from here on out is a must win, and we are capable of winning every game." The only difference between the game-winning goals against Dartmouth this weekend and against Villanova in early September was the colors of the opposing team's uniforms. Late in the second overtime period, the Quakers won a free kick 40-yards out and slightly right of the Dartmouth goal. Eric Violante sent in a bending cross onto the head of midfielder Josh Baugh, who glanced it to a wide-open Vereb who headed it home for the winner. "Josh Baugh came up big again," Vereb said. "Vio played a great ball in, the same type of thing as earlier in the year. I spun off the guy, Josh knocked it right down to me, and I tucked it right in." Every part of this sequence off of the set piece happened exactly as the game winner in the 2-0 victory against Villanova. While they have not scripted this play as it would seem, the personnel the Quakers have, has allowed for the two identical goals to be scored. "It's not something we've gone over, surprisingly, its just Josh Baugh is very good with his head." Vereb said. While he is not the tallest player on the field, when it counted the 5-foot-10 Baugh used his timing, strength and balance in the air to again come up with a big play. At the other end of the field, Danny Cepero stood on his head, keeping the Quakers in the game with his six saves. He had a diving stop in the first half on a forward who had a defender beat, and later in the game glanced away an attempt on another break. The Big Green were bombarding the net all game, but could not finish. "They were coming at us pretty hard from the start," Cepero said. "Luckily not only me, but some of my defenders were able to get in front, stop some shots, absorb that pressure, and eventually hold on until we could get that goal. "Dartmouth does a lot of that, they dump the ball in to just get something to poke in the net, and fortunately we were able to keep it out." Cepero has allowed only nine goals in eleven games this season, and on Saturday amassed his seventh clean sheet of the season. And in the 298 minutes and three games of Ivy League play he has allowed only two goals to go along with 13 saves. "I can't stress enough Danny Cepero, he came up huge. He's a great keeper, great leader for this team, and he kept us in it." Vereb said. As Vereb found out, neither team holds anything back in a game as important as this one. The referee let the players play for much of the game, as the two yellow cards were not indicative of how physical the contest was. Besides the two reckless challenges that drew bookings for the Penn side, in the second half Vereb went up for a header and came down missing a tooth. The Quakers big sophomore defender took a nasty elbow to the face, slicing the better half of his right front tooth clean off. Ironically Dartmouth was awarded a free kick. Vereb was still all smiles after the game. "This was a huge win for us," Vereb said. "We wanted to make a statement to this league and coming off of our big win against Columbia get a rhythm going."