Penn forward/midfielder Loukas Tasigianis statistically had his biggest season two years ago as a freshman, when he tallied 10 points and was an honorable mention All-Ivy selection.
But against No. 20 Brown at Stevenson Field in Providence, R.I., yesterday, Tasigianis scored perhaps one of the biggest goals of his career, as the Quakers held on for a 1-0 victory to keep their postseason chances alive.
“It’s just huge for us,” Tasigianis said. “We talked about it all during training this week that if we wanted to do anything [in the postseason] … we had to win out.”
Although Penn (6-6, 2-2-1 Ivy) entered the matchup in seventh place in the Ancient Eight, the Quakers are now tied for fourth place with Princeton and are only a game behind first-place Harvard.
The Bears (8-2-5, 3-2), meanwhile, suffered only their second loss of the season — and their first at home — despite controlling play in the second half.
Against a Brown defense that had previously allowed only 11 goals in 14 games, Penn held the momentum in the early going, as junior Aaron Ross got the first chance of the game on a header at the 1:20 mark.
In the 15th minute, passes from Ross and freshman Michael Kozak allowed Tasigianis to finally break through with a blast to the lower-right corner of the net, past Brown goalie Paul Grandstrand.
“We went into the game with a specific gameplan — we really wanted to put them under pressure at the start of the game,” Tasigianis said.
“With that we started to get a lot of chances, more than we expected. After a couple we were able to put one away, and that really settled the game down for us.”
Brown bounced back to hold a slight lead in shots and corner kicks at the break and outshot the Red and Blue 14-3 after the break. Penn coach Rudy Fuller said Brown tried to “throw the kitchen sink” at the Quakers in the second period, but the stingy backline was able to hold firm, as freshman goalie Garon Smith made three saves to preserve the shutout.
“They were pressuring us a lot, so we let them play with the ball a little bit and really pressured them hard once they got close to our net,” Tasigianis said. “Garon did a phenomenal job, and so did the rest of our defense. … They outshot us, but the gameplan really wasn’t to attack at that point in the game.”
Penn finishes the season with a home match against Princeton Saturday and then a road finale at No. 15 Harvard Nov. 14. A pair of victories might give the Quakers an outside shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, but to get the Ivy League’s automatic bid they would still need some help. Both Brown and Dartmouth (8-5-1, 3-2) are still two points up on Penn, and the Big Green hold a tiebreaker after beating the Quakers, 3-1, at Rhodes Field Oct. 18.
Fuller hopes the heart and composure his team showed against a ranked opponent on the road will carry over to the final two matches.
“Brown is having an exceptional year and is a very good team, so to go up to their place and get a win says a lot about our team,” Fuller said.
