Penn men's soccer senior Omid Shokoufandeh had been here before. The Quakers' strong first-half play had disappeared, and with it, their one-goal lead. They seemed destined for a tie, or worse, another Ivy loss.
That's when, with just under two minutes left on a rainy, windy Saturday night in New Haven, Conn., Shokoufandeh got his head on Zach Barnett's long throw deep in Yale's half and did what he's done more than once this season: score the game-winning goal.
"Just the right spot at the right time," Shokoufandeh said. "But it's one of the best feelings you can have playing soccer."
After beating Yale, 2-1, the Quakers (9-2-3, 3-1-0 Ivy) trail only Harvard in the Ivy League. According to Shokoufandeh, getting the win was crucial not only to keep pace in the Ancient Eight but also to maintain momentum heading into this weekend's match with Brown, with which Penn is tied for second.
As has been their M.O. all season, the Red and Blue started strong, knocking the Bulldogs on their heels. Despite dominating the first half and outshooting them, 8-4, Penn took just a 1-0 lead into the break, thanks to a clean shot from Kevin Unger in the 35th minute.
"We should have been up 3-0, and Unger's goal gave us energy," Shokoufandeh said. "We thought we'd be able to cruise from there. But we just got lackadaisical."
Off the first touch of the second half, Yale's Andy Shorten got free and broke toward Penn goalie Drew Healy. Healy left his box, diving to cut off Shorten's shot. The rebound bounced to defender Aaron Ross, who cleared it, but the Bulldogs were able to put two more shots on goal before Healy smothered the ball, ending the siege.
"That breakaway set the tone for the second half," Unger said.
Yale took advantage of the Quakers' confusion, pressuring and chipping away at their defense. And in the 19th minute, the Bulldogs finally broke through on Jordan Raybould's free kick. The wind carried it across the box to the far post, where Andy Hackbarth headed in the equalizer.
"It was really frustrating," Unger said. "Nothing was going our way. It wasn't so much how we were playing, but they must have had one great halftime speech."
The Quakers harnessed their anger and fought back, evening out the momentum. After another 25 minutes of play, an Andrew Ferry through-ball was cleared by a Yale defender, setting up Barnett's throw-in and the Shokoufandeh game-winner.
"Restarts were critical; we felt that if we'd get one, we'd score," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "The difference was resiliency and experience. Anytime you can win a game on the road in this league, it's a huge result."
On the bus back, the team was loose, laughing about the win and the 1996 Dave Chappelle standup comedy playing on the TV. But they know that right around the corner is the crucial homecoming matchup with Brown.
"We're confident," Shokoufandeh said. "But we also know we're not perfect. You have to have that mentality. You can't play scared."
