Even though Penn dominated almost all of the 200 minutes it played to win its fourth consecutive Penn Soccer Classic title, it came away disappointed.
Playing Hartwick on Friday night under the lights in its home opener, the Quakers came away with an impressive 2-1 victory.
Against La Salle yesterday, it was a different ending. The Quakers dominated the game yet again, only to come out with a 1-1 draw.
Friday night's performance was somewhat of a relief for the Quakers, as they finally captured their first victory of the season after losing their first three games.
Kevin Unger got the scoring started early. Unger, who was active all day, took a pass some 20 yards from goal and buried a rocket in the bottom corner of the net.
Hartwick responded in surprising fashion, with a goal just after halftime on a goalmouth scramble.
But Hobson's goal - slotted in off of a through ball down the right-hand side - came with about 27 minutes left in regulation and proved to be the game winner.
"It's always good to get that first win and get the ball rolling," Hobson said. "We really wanted to win this one on our home field."
Penn was determined against Hartwick as they controlled almost the entire first half, playing most of it on their side of the field.
The Hawks then got their equalizer one minute into the second half, but that was the only time they could lay a claim to real momentum.
The defense returned to its form, limiting Hartwick to only three shots on goal . Goaltender Drew Healy was often shaky in his ball distribution, but earned the first win of his collegiate career.
Healy countered his moments of doubt with commanding saves, like his stop of a Hartwick breakaway in the opening minute.
More generally, head coach Rudy Fuller was impressed with his team's defensive performance.
"Our defense is a full team effort and I think that we were really committed as a group to defending very well tonight and that showed," the coach said.
Sunday against La Salle, Penn again played fine soccer. It controlled almost the entire game and outshot La Salle 21-7. The Quakers had 15 corner kicks compared to La Salle's one.
Penn's lone goal came from an impressive corner kick: junior transfer Alex Fairman to senior tri-captain Keith Vereb.
But Penn let the game get away. La Salle scored a goal in the 83rd minute of play to tie the game and send it into overtime. Two overtimes later, the game ended in a disappointing tie for the Quakers.
"The team put in 110 minutes of good soccer," Fuller said. "When you get that many opportunities you have to finish them and that didn't happen today."
The result was doubly bitter in view of last year's game against La Salle. The Quakers went 2-0 up at the Explorers' home field, but coughed up the lead and eventually lost 3-2.
One year later, the angst was no less palpable.
"It's frustrating coming out with a tie, especially when we had a chance to win two here this weekend," Vereb said.
Instead, the Quakers have only their one win to date.
"I would imagine I've got an angry team right now," Fuller said."
