Penn men’s soccer continued its trend of coming up big in the final minutes, but this time it was the defense who sealed the win with clutch play.
The No. 17 Red and Blue extended their winning streak to five on Saturday with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.
Each of these last five victories were clinched by just one goal. In four of the five, the Quakers’ defense, led by goalie Ben Berg, posted a shutout.
In three of their last four victories, the Red and Blue (10-2-0, 3-0-0 Ivy) did not score the decisive goal until the second half, with two of those game-winning goals not coming until the after the 89th minute.
But this win was different for Penn. Just four minutes into the game, junior Thomas Brandt pounced on a rebound from teammate Christian Barreiro’s free kick and sent the ball into the net.
A fullback, the junior said his second career goal was nothing special.
“The ball kind of just fell into my lap,” he said.
With an early lead, it was up to the Penn defense to hold off an aggressive Dartmouth attack that boasts the highest shooting average in the Ancient Eight.
“In a way, [the early goal] was both an advantage and almost a downfall to us,” Brandt said. “We kind of fell into a defensive shell, but the goal definitely helped us in creating a counterattack.”
The Quakers’ defense had to come up big throughout the game, as the Big Green outshot Penn, 9-4.
In particular, Dartmouth (5-4-1, 1-2-0) put the Penn defense to the test in the last five minutes, when the Big Green had three of their nine corners.
Brandt attributed the team’s successful clearances during these crucial minutes to the midfield stepping up and guarding two of Dartmouth’s leading scorers, Lucky Mkosana and Daniel Keat.
Coach Rudy Fuller concurred that the team’s effort in preparing for the game was essential.
“We put a lot of time into figuring out what Dartmouth was all about, and we felt like we had a clear and accurate idea of how to deal with them,” he said.
With the team now facing its longest break between games this season, the Quakers will have plenty of time to plan before traveling to New Haven, Conn., to play Yale.
Although the Red and Blue have not lost to Yale since 2004, Fuller is not taking a win for granted.
“Winning on the road is as challenging as it gets … and Yale has played us close before.”
