The scoreboard showed Cornell up, 2-1, and the clock was ticking down. Penn forward Omid Shokoufandeh "thought it would be easy" beating the Big Red; instead, he was watching the unthinkable unfold.
A loss to Ivy bottom-feeder Cornell would not mean not only an embarrassing way to snap the men's soccer team's 10-match undefeated streak but also an 0-1 conference hole.
Shokoufandeh turned that deficit around.
The senior scored twice in the final 20 minutes to help the Quakers earn a 3-2 win in Ithaca, N.Y., remaining unbeaten and grabbing their first Ivy victory of the year.
"Obviously, the way you start the season is going to resonate throughout the rest of the year," Shokoufandeh said. "The first win is a precedent for us to go into the next couple games, go in hard and win them."
Penn grabbed the lead early thanks to a Jason Gorskie header off a corner from Alex Grendi. Cornell settled in, though, and tied the game 17 minutes later.
Then, only 10 minutes after the break, Cornell went ahead 2-1, thanks to what coach Rudy Fuller called an "unbelievable shot" from 20 yards out by Big Red freshman Pedro Pereira.
They held the lead until Shokoufandeh scored off a pass from freshman Christian Barreiro. And only nine minutes later he gave his squad the lead, putting in a loose ball from about six yards out.
Shokoufandeh blamed overconfidence for the slow start. Cornell came into the game with the worst record in the Ivy League at 1-6-0, while Penn was at the top with a 6-0-3 mark.
"If you don't go in every game prepared, you're going to come out flat," Shokoufandeh said. "We learned our lesson and we're not going to go into any games like that again."
Penn's experience may have proved the difference. Penn coach Rudy Fuller credited his squad's poise late in the game for its ability to battle back on the road.
"We have a number of seniors that are in their last season and are very hungry for success," Fuller said. "So the combination of competitiveness and experience allows us to get results on certain days where other teams might falter."
Defense - the strength of the team for the first six games - has not been an asset the past week, and that was no different in Ithaca. After shutting out opponents for the first seven games of the season, the Quakers have allowed two goals in each of their past three games.
Still, senior Drew Healy played the whole game, ending with three saves and notching his seventh win of the year. The team isn't blaming the man in net - or anything else.
"It's unacceptable from our standpoint," senior defender John Elicker said. "I can't really point a finger to any one thing. If I had to say something, we have to get back to doing the little things right. "
Penn will have to get those final kinks out, as stronger conference foes await, and next time, Shokoufandeh may not be able to bail out his teammates.
