Moving ahead, Penn goes back to basics

A balanced attack with consistent effort and minimal mistakes — that’s what the Penn women’s soccer team strives to embody.

Yet recent shortcomings in each of those categories have taken their toll on the Quakers’ win column.

In tonight’s 7 p.m. game against Binghamton at Rhodes Field, they’ll look to avenge Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Columbia.

The Quakers (6-3-2, 1-2-0 Ivy) have been digging themselves into deep holes recently. They twice came back from deficits against the Lions before eventually giving up back-to-back goals.

Penn hopes to use that meltdown as motivation to finally eliminate the costly mistakes against a streaking Binghamton team (6-5-1). The Bearcats have won six of their last eight games since starting the season at a lowly 0-3-1.

“They are going to be a team playing really well,” junior midfielder Marisa Schoen said. “Right now it is really important for us to focus on the things that we can control, our own performance, and coming out hard and rebounding from this weekend’s upsetting loss.”

The team is hoping for improvement mostly in its defense, as the defenders feel they have been giving up unearned goals, especially early in the game.

“I think that three of the four goals [against Columbia] were bad goals that were off of our mistakes or something going wrong with our team, and we kind of let them score,” Schoen said. “As long as we learn from it and don’t make the same mistakes again, that will be really beneficial.”

The Quakers are bracing themselves for a powerful offense led by freshman midfielder Emily Pape, who is riding a three-game goal-scoring streak entering tonight’s contest.

Penn knows that it cannot afford any more defensive breakdowns.

“If they pull off some great soccer to create a chance — that is fine, that is how the game is played,” Quakers assistant coach Pete Pososki said, “but if we give up something that maybe we shouldn’t have because of a lack of focus, that will be disappointing.”

While Penn has been struggling on the defensive end, it has relied heavily on its offense. Senior forward Jessica Fuccello leads the League in points, goals and game-winning scores while senior co-captain Michelle Drugan ranks second in assists.

However, a record-setting offense may not be enough for a team that strives for balance.

“I think we definitely need to start focusing a little more on defense as well and making that a top priority,” Schoen said. “Even if we have the best offense ever, if we can’t step it up on defense and prevent teams from scoring goals on us, you can’t win the game.”

Pososki added that if the team finds that balance, it will have success on both sides of the ball. Good defense will provide better scoring chances, and a consistent attack will limit the defensive unit’s burden.

“When one of those things is missing, we are going to struggle in both areas,” Pososki said.

“[Tonight] I want a great effort,” he added, “and I wouldn’t expect any more or any less.”

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