The road is often unkind to lost travelers.
A three-game road trip to begin the season left the men's soccer team winless, with its early-season questions in goal and on the back line still unanswered. This weekend, however, Penn (0-3-0) looks to get its season back on track with a homestand - against Hartwick (3-1-0) tonight and La Salle (1-2-0) on Sunday as part of the Penn
Soccer Classic.
"We're using anger as a motivation because we know we're better than this," junior goalkeeper Drew Healy said. "We just want to show everyone that we're not a 0-3 team."
Although he maintains that the team is better off because of the road trip, coach Rudy Fuller is still relieved to be back at Rhodes Field.
"You're comfortable, you've got your fans and it's your environment," Fuller said.
In order to take advantage of this home stretch, Fuller must deal with his team's question marks, and the goalkeeper situation sits atop the list. The Quakers have three goalies on the depth chart, and Fuller still has not named a starter. But he has stated that he was "going to make a decision at some point" yesterday.
"I think all three are progressing along," Fuller said. But "in the near term, it will either be [sophomore Kevin] Sweetland or Healy."
Healy got the start in the two previous games, and allowed three goals total. Sweetland, the starter in the Quakers' first game against Seton Hall, a 6-2 laugher, has just come back from an injury.
The uncertainty is an unwelcome distraction to the Penn goalies, but Healy foresaw this situation.
"I knew that there was a possibility that the season would go this way . not really knowing what the deal was," Healy said. "All of us, myself, Sweetland, and [freshman] Ben [Berg], we prepare for every game as if we're starting."
Fuller will also have to make sure his team is not fatigued against either Hartwick or La Salle. On Friday of last week, the Quakers played a hearty game against Cal, struggling to a close 1-0 defeat, but dropped a game two days later against Stanford due in part to a sluggish start. This weekend, Penn will play a very similar Friday-Sunday schedule.
"To play two games at that level in three days is challenging, and I think that's one of the lessons that we've learned," Fuller said.
Back in the friendly confines of Rhodes Field, however, the Quakers are more concerned about making sure that this weekend will not be a repeat of what happened before.
"We're definitely looking for two wins," senior Jeff Livingston said.
If they do not answer the questions plaguing the team, however, those two wins might just be another lost traveler's wishful dream.
