Three minutes into the second half against Cornell Saturday, junior goalie Ben Berg misplayed an attempted cross that floated over his head to gift the Big Red a 1-0 lead.
But with the game on the line in the second overtime, Berg made a pair of tremendous clutch saves to preserve a 2-2 tie.
“I try to do that every time, but especially if I put my team down and it’s my fault, I want to make sure it won’t happen again,” Berg said.
Despite a disappointing end result against an underdog Cornell squad (4-3-2, 0-0-1 Ivy) that was 0-7 in conference play last year, the Quakers twice scored equalizers in the second half to avoid a loss to open their Ivy season.
Christian Barreiro struck home a penalty kick for his fourth goal of the season, but Penn (3-3-3, 0-0-1) surrendered the lead again after Lee Rubenstein was awarded an immediate red card for a foul at midfield.
In a physical matchup, the referee caught flak for calling 34 penalties against Cornell but just 18 against Penn and issuing 11 total cards. Penn coach Rudy Fuller said he thought the call against Rubenstein was harsh, but he said the same of a red card given to Cornell’s coach in the second overtime.
Down a man for the last 18 minutes of regulation, Penn sacrificed a forward, but ironically the attack became more composed. Senior Alex Takakuwa responded with his team-leading fifth goal in the 80th minute to send the game into overtime.
Takakuwa, who has said he models his sneaky offensive style after former NBA center Vlade Divac, evoked a metaphor from another sports star near his Bay Area home.
“It’s kind of like when Tim Lincecum has a bad first inning, he’s just gotta settle in and keep pitching because he’s a freak,” the Davis, Calif., native said. “We just tried to do the same thing: Settle in and execute the game plan.”
Penn controlled play for the last 10 minutes of regulation and through most of overtime, but they were unable to win.
“They got tired, they weren’t a very good team and didn’t really pressure us,” Takakuwa said. “They played hard though, and we didn’t play all that well for 70 to 80 minutes of that game, so to come out 2-2 I guess is a deserved result, but it’s a little disappointing.”
Following a disastrous 5-0 loss at Penn State last Tuesday, Penn is happy to have seemingly rediscovered its tenacity.
“The result certainly wasn’t what we wanted,” Fuller conceded. “But at least we come off the field feeling we gave it an honest day’s work.”
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