As Penn's Alex Fairman jumped for the ball around midfield in the second half, he received a jarring blow to his stomach from a Lehigh player, leaving him lying on the field gasping for breath.
It was just that kind of soccer game at Rhodes Field Saturday, where Penn tied Lehigh 1-1.
"It came down to more of the hustle plays and determination," coach Rudy Fuller said. "It took us a little while to adapt to that."
Fairman, a junior, extracted his revenge in due time, scoring Penn's only goal of the game on a header from junior Alex Grendi in the 71st minute of the game.
"We had the momentum at the end of the first half going into the second half, and we just needed to find that first goal to keep us going," Fairman said.
The Quakers (1-3-2) came out of the gates very slowly, giving Lehigh (4-1-1) too many scoring opportunities in the first half. Before six minutes had passed in the game, Penn already found itself facing a 1-0 deficit.
"We [couldn't] give up that early goal," Fairman said.
Already this year, Penn has given up early goals in three other games. All of those turned out to be losses.
The game "definitely showed our ability to battle back," said senior Jeffrey Livingston. "We made an effort to be a little more physical in the second half."
Penn's depth was one of the reasons why the Quakers could battle back.
"Guys coming off the bench . came in and really gave us a big lift," Fuller said.
Fuller noted the tie certainly was not what the team had wanted coming into the game, but he was also "proud of them for having the determination and character to get back in and get any result."
Penn was fortunate to get it. If Lady Luck had favored Lehigh, the Quakers might have been down 2-0 before they even had a chance to respond.
In the 66th minute of the game, a Mountain Hawks breakaway came streaking down the field toward Penn goalie Drew Healy. The junior charged at the incoming Lehigh player but did not get to him in time. With Healy dead to right, the ball rolled toward Penn's goal. At first the ball appeared to be going to go in, but instead ricocheted off the left goalpost.
"Even my presence there might have thrown him off," Healy said later about the missed goal.
So with a little luck and a lot of grit, the Quakers fought off the vaunted Lehigh team. But Penn's performance in this game was a microcosm of their season thus far - good enough, but leaving them wanting more.
