Already out of Ivy League title contention, the Quakers traveled to No. 15 Harvard on its Senior Day trying to come out with something positive to build on.
After 90 minutes of rough play, all they had to lean on was another loss - this time, by 2 goals to 1.
Penn's offense got off to a good start, something it has not done in recent games, but was not able to put anything in the net. In the first ten minutes the Quakers had three scoring chances, capped off by freshman Tobi Olopade's shot that clanked off the post.
After those first ten minutes Harvard was able to score twice - senior captain Matt Hoff and junior Michael Fucito converted.
Even though both Hoff and Fucito scored, coach Rudy Fuller wasn't upset with Penn's defensive performance.
"Overall we did what we wanted to do defensively," Fuller said. "Those two are very dangerous and we had a defensive game plan on how to deal with those two, which think we executed very well. The goals they scored really had nothing to do with how we defended as a team."
Freshman Ben Berg started in goal and gave up both tallies in his first half; the first goal was misplayed by the back line and the second by Berg himself.
"For Ben's first start, obviously he should have done better on that second goal, but beyond that I thought he did a good job," Fuller said.
The net had been occupied by junior Drew Healy, but since he has been sidelined due to injury, Berg and sophomore Kevin Sweetland have been getting their chances. Fuller is unsure who will start in the final game next week.
"Both Ben and Kevin have been playing very well in training these last few weeks and with Drew's injury we really wanted to give them both a game before the end of the season," Fuller said.
Although Penn looked like it had little chance to make it a game again, senior Derek Hobson found the net with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
"It made a difference," Hobson said. "We actually felt like we outplayed them in the first half. We let in a couple goals that shouldn't have happened but it was good to get back to 2-1."
But it was more of the same in the second half.
And if the team wants to end the season on a positive note, it only has one more chance - this weekend against Cornell.
"Obviously you want to end the season strong," Hobson said, "and we really think that our final game at home against Cornell will leave a good taste in the mouths of the guys coming back next year."
