Penn men's soccer out for Tigers' blood in Ivies

With the calendar flipping to October, Ivy fixtures are finally ready to go. With a month already gone, we break down the contenders and pretenders for the men’s soccer season.

The Home Team

Penn started off the year great before a dip in form out in California. However, after coming back east, Penn has gone 3-0-1.

The Quakers feature one of the best central-back pairings in the country in Thomas Brandt and Jake Levin. An unstoppable attack has sparked a four-game run in which Penn has outscored its opponents 10-3.

Penn’s continued success will hinge on the development of freshman goalkeeper Max Kurtzman and sophomore outside backs Nicky Yin and Jonny Dolezal. Their possession and link-up play with forwards and holding midfielder Travis Cantrell will be vital in relieving pressure against the likes of Princeton and Dartmouth.

“It’d be nice to get revenge against teams we lost to last year,” Cantrell said of Harvard and Princeton. “But every game is important and it’d would be childish to put preference on team.”

With a balanced league, the Quakers will definitely have to show up every Saturday.

Watching the Throne

The title-holder Princeton is looking to defend the 2010 crown. The Tigers posted a 7-0-0 record last season, including a 2-1 win over the Quakers in the penultimate week of the Ivy season to seal the top spot in the table.

Unbeaten in Ivy play since October 2009, Princeton’s current record of 1-5-1 doesn’t represent how dangerous it can and will be. The Tigers have played two tough games against No. 15 St. John’s and perennial power Monmouth, which will only make them stronger during the Ivy slate.

The reason not to underestimate Princeton: Antoine Hoppenot. The senior was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s equivalent to the Heisman, and has started the year poorly, but will be a force to reckoned with once he gets going.

The Darth Horse

Dartmouth needs to survive the first month. The Big Green have arguably the toughest opening to any season, hosting Princeton and then traveling to both Yale and Penn in the first two weeks of the season.

The Big Green will lean heavily on Zimbabwe-native and All-Ivy first team forward Lucky Mkosana, who is great at creating his own shot but tends to be very streaky with his goal-scoring.

Beware of Lions, Bears… and Bulldogs?

The middle of the pack begins and ends with Brown and Columbia.

The Bears come into the Ivy portion of their schedule third in the league with a 5-3-0 record. Brown also has the league’s most in-form striker in T.J. Popolizio, who already has six goals and will have help from 2010 first-team All-Ivy forward Sean Rosa.

The plucky Lions will be led by former Red Bulls Academy product David Najem. The high-school All-American was an honorable All-Ivy nod as a freshman and pulls the strings of the Columbia attack from the center of the field.

Earlier this season, Yale wouldn’t have been considered a contender. But thanks to Bulldogs’ keeper Bobby Thalman’s superhuman effort midweek, the Elis nearly produced a shocking upset of No. 1 UConn — ultimately succumbing in double overtime, 1-0.

Along with forward Brad Rose, who could challenge for the league’s scoring title, Yale will help make this Ivy season a very tight race.

Having three teams with a solid shot and three outside contenders, it’s going to be a fun Ivy season.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.