The Penn men’s soccer team had seven-straight shutouts under their belt — a streak that spanned 670 minutes — when it headed into its Sept. 28, 2008 match against local rival Temple.
But it only took defender James Suevo 3:25 to solve the Quakers’ defense, and by the 6:40 mark, Owls’ star forward Tyler Witmer had scored a second goal. Penn managed to shut down Temple the rest of the way and ultimately came back to tie, but the damage had already been done.
“We definitely have something to prove,” sophomore defender Jake Levin said of tonight’s rematch at Temple’s Ambler Soccer Complex. “They were the team that ruined our record last year. We want to set it straight — we don’t let them score on us.”
The Quakers (3-1-2) are coming off two exceptional defensive performances last weekend, as junior goalie Ben Berg only needed to make one save total in a pair of shutouts against Albany and Navy.
In order to keep up that momentum, Penn will have to do a better job of containing Witmer than it did last year. Now a sophomore, Witmer was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after scoring three goals in the Owls’ last two games.
“They’ve got some special guys; Ty Witmer and J.T. Noone in the final third are as good as anybody we’re going to face,” Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. “So we’ve got to make sure we’re really sharp and connected defensively.”
Prior to Witmer’s breakout, the Owls (2-3-1) had only managed one goal in their first four games. After averaging 1.63 goals per game last season, Temple has only scored six goals so far, four of them by Witmer.
The biggest difference in Temple’s offensive firepower has been Noone’s lack of goal production. As a junior in 2008, he led Temple with 26 points and was second to Witmer with seven goals. This year, the Harrisburg, Pa., native has yet to score a goal, though he has assisted on half of the Owls’ goals.
Despite Temple’s scoring struggles on paper, Levin said the Quakers must remain focused on staying organized on defense, because their local rivals do not back down easily.
City games are “definitely more physical than your average out-of-conference game,” the sophomore defender said. “In Philly games, it’s a matter of pride, and no one takes it lightly.”
On the other side, Penn’s offense has produced at least two goals in five of six matches this season.
“As much as we like to think of our team as a stingy team, we don’t really spend a lot of time on the defensive side in training,” Fuller said. “We want to be a team that is capable of moving the ball around, hitting different spots on the field, making the other team defend.”
Fuller said that goals tend to come in bunches, so the Quakers will have to continue to finish their chances in the attacking third. Like most matches in the Soccer Six, this one promises to be a slugfest.
“Temple gave us everything we could handle last year, and a lot of those guys are back, and it’s a city game,” Fuller said. “Those are the types of games you want to play in.”
