Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller knew that Brown was going to play defensively on Saturday.
So when it came time to name his starting eleven for the crucial match against the Bears, he left sophomore Ryan Porch on the bench in favor of classmate Kevin Unger.
Porch, a defensive midfielder, had started every game for the Quakers up to that point, and Unger had started only two.
But Fuller felt that the more attack-minded Unger was needed to generate scoring chances.
"We decided to go with a little bit more of an offensive midfield," Fuller said. "So Unger got the nod, and Porch came in and gave us good minutes as well."
Ultimately, Penn failed to create enough chances and had to settle for a 0-0 draw. But Fuller reinforced that Saturday's match was the exception, rather than the rule.
"Had we been playing somebody else who we felt was going to try and come at us a bit more, we might have gone with Porch and had more of a balance in the team," he said.
There is every indication that this Saturday's match against Princeton will be one of those occasions.
"We saw [the Tigers] play earlier in the year, and they played with three in the back," senior forward Ryan Tracy said. Tracy added that if Princeton uses the same strategy against Penn, the Quakers' normal three-forward formation ought to yield "a great advantage" for the offense.
But even if the Tigers use more than three at the back, their potent offense makes Porch's return to the starting lineup all the more likely.
"They can move the ball as well as anybody we're going to face," Fuller said. "We've got to be very sharp defensively."
Not on the defensive
Fourteen days ago, there were real questions surrounding Penn's defense. The Quakers were coming off of 2-1 losses to Dartmouth and American. Sophomore Josh Baugh had broken his leg, and senior Andy Howard's health was in doubt due to a quadriceps injury.
All this came as the toughest part of the schedule loomed ahead.
But two weeks later, the defense has re-emerged as the strength of the team. Since the American loss on Oct. 18, Penn has played two matches (both against 2005 Ivy League co-champions) and hasn't conceded a single goal in either game.
In total, the Quakers only allowed two goals in seven regular-season matches at Rhodes Field. In the Ivy League, they've given up three in six matches, easily the best mark in the league.
The key, according to senior captain and goalkeeper Dan Cepero, has been the prowess of the healthy starters.
"The center backs, Jeff [Livingston] and Keith [Vereb], since Yale, have played probably the best soccer I've seen them play," he said. "Johnny [Elicker], out wide, stepped it up a huge deal with his work effort and his work rate.
"Being able to maintain that core in the midst of all the trouble that we had, . it's just a tribute to the way they've bounced back."
Captain Oblivious
Penn's Ivy-title hopes rest in part on the results of the Harvard-Columbia game, which runs concurrently to the Quakers' match.
But Fuller says he's resisting the urge to get in-game updates from Boston on Saturday afternoon, opting instead to hear about Penn's fate after the game.
"I don't have any earpiece," he laughed. "I don't have any scouts up at Harvard."
Fuller said that, regardless of what happens to the Crimson, Penn needs a win to make the NCAA Tournament - whether at-large or by winning the league.
"We're fortunate, in a way, that we don't have to be worried about what's going on anywhere else."
Because the team's various tournament hopes all require a win, Penn can only afford to focus on its own game.
"We're just going to go out, hope to get a 'W' [at Princeton] and see where the chips fall," Fuller said.
