M. Soccer Notebook | For love of the game, Olopade hangs up track spikes

Before practice on Tuesday, Sophomore Tobi Olopade took a knee to lace up his soccer cleats. Just last spring, he was tying up his track spikes, which are now collecting dust.

The Chicago native elected to leave the confines of Franklin Field for the plush Bermuda grass of Rhodes Field.

"Soccer is what I love to do," Olopade said. "Over the summer I really committed to it. . I thought if I really wanted to do one sport really well, I had to make the decision."

Olopade won a walk-on spot on coach Rudy Fuller's squad last fall, but an injury kept him off the track all spring.

"Last year, he was more of a track athlete trying to play soccer --it's two very different sports," Fuller said. "This year, he's going to give teams trouble."

To adjust to the increased focus on soccer, Olopade has changed his regimen. He ran about 13 miles per week this summer, while juggling and working on his footwork.

The result? Fuller said "the difference between Tobi last year at this time and this year is night and day."

Timing is everything. Whether it's time or personnel, it never hurts to have more resources.

"This is my eleventh season at Penn, and this is probably the deepest team I've had," Fuller said.

The starters are still undecided, and he sees several different lineup possibilities.

"At each spot on the field, there are a couple guys we could go with," he said.

Along with a seemingly extended roster, the Quakers are benefitting from an extended preseason - the Ivy League allowed teams to open up practice six days earlier this year.

Last season, the Quakers had only eight days to train before heading out on a brutal West Coast tournament trip.

This year, they fly to Wisconsin to take on DePaul and Marquette in a season-opening tournament.

Six extra days to prepare and a more manageable Midwest slate is a welcome change.

Sweet Home Wisconsin. Several Quakers get an early homecoming this season.

Mike Klein, Kevin Unger and Nick Unger were all high school teammates four years ago.

Klein and Kevin Unger were seniors while Nick Unger was a freshman at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wis. Among them, they have four state championships.

The Quakers head to the Badger State this weekend to kick off their season against Big East teams Marquette and DePaul.

"We played with a bunch of those guys from Marquette this summer and past summers, so we know most of them," Kevin Unger said. "We would get a couple thousand people for our high-school games. The biggest crowd we'll play in front of at Penn is [at Marquette]."

Sophomore keeper Ben Berg is from Whitefish Bay, a Milwaukee suburb.

"It tells a lot about Wisconsin soccer players that they can send a lot of players out east," Berg said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.