Midway through the first half of the men’s soccer game against Pricneton, Penn sophomore defender Jake Levin lay sprawled out on the turf, writhing in pain. Although he would manage to hobble off the field, he would not return.
The injury was a blow to the Quakers who struggled through the rest of the contest, ultimately losing, 3-1, Saturday night at Rhodes Field.
The Tigers (8-5-3, 3-2-1 Ivy) extended their unbeaten streak to six games and stayed alive in the Ivy race, remaining a game behind Harvard (12-3-1, 4-1-1) in the conference standings.
Meanwhile, the Quakers (6-7-3, 2-3-1) took a serious blow in their quest to qualify for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. They have one more game against No. 11 Harvard Saturday afternoon.
“We have to win against Harvard. That’s a must-win now, because to even get into the [NCAA] Tournament you need a .500 record,” Penn coach Rudy Fuller said.
“You never know what’ll happen. We’re still staying positive, but this is definitely detrimental to our hopes. But we’ll see what happens,” echoed Penn freshman goalkeeper Garon Smith, who finished the game with five saves.
The scoring began in the 23rd minute, when Princeton sophomore Antoine Hoppenot kicked in a rebound off a Josh Walburn shot that had caromed off the left post and came right to Hoppenot near the goal.
Then, in the 38th minute, Hoppenot found senior teammate Ben Harms, who dodged two defenders and fired a shot that scored from about 25 yards out. The Tigers carried this 2-0 lead into halftime.
“In the first half I thought we got stung by two goals,” Fuller said. “I thought they scored a good [first] goal, but that we could’ve done better on the second goal.”
With the departure of Levin in the first half, the Quakers appeared in a hole entering the second half. But they didn’t let it deter them.
“Jake’s a very good player, it was unfortunate to lose him,” Smith said. “But we have a very deep team. … I don’t think it had a negative effect. It had an effect, definitely, but not necessarily a negative one.”
The Quakers showed their grit, coming back with a vengeance to open the second half.
Only eight minutes in, Penn junior Jason Gorskie headed in a corner kick from sophomore Christian Barreiro, to pull within one goal.
“We’d been working on that one all year,” Gorskie said. “It was a great cross from Christian. I was in the right spot — exactly as the play was drawn up.”
The goal brought the partisan crowd of 467 back to life and provided Penn with much needed momentum.
But it was not to last.
Nine minutes later Princeton freshman Matt Sanner made the score 3-1, heading in a free kick from Walburn. Sanner’s well-placed header arced just under the crossbar, and although Smith managed to graze the ball with his fingertips, he was unable to change its direction.
“Nothing surprised us,” Fuller said of the game. “Looking back on it we feel that we had a pretty good read on what they had to offer. … I thought it was unfortunate that we didn’t get the second goal to tie it, before they got that third goal.”
With the loss, the season’s fate now rides on the Harvard matchup — as well as a little bit of luck.
