Ivy outlook: Penn men's soccer looking up at Bears and Big Red

The Ivy landscape in men’s soccer is one that puts the odds against Penn rebounding after a disappointing season.
The eight teams can be broken into three tiers.

TIER 1: A FREE KICK AWAY

Brown

The top of the class in the Ivy, League Brown will be without defender Dylan Remick and midfield Thomas McNamara but comes into the year ranked 18th in the NSCAA Coaches poll anyway. A big reason for that is junior Ben Maurey, who had five goals and two assists last season. Another year older, and with a team looking for someone to make up for losing scoring production, look for Maurey to have a breakout year.

Cornell

The Big Red come in just behind the Bears in the NSCAA poll, but they face the same issue as Brown. Cornell’s star, Daniel Haber, not only led the Ancient Eight in goals last year, he also found the back of the net twice as much as the second player on the list. However, his 18 goals and seven assists have left Cornell for a professional contract in Israel. Conor Goepel and Patrick Slogic will have to step in to give the Big Red a chance at taking home the Ivy.

TIER 2: A SHOT FROM THE TOP OF THE BOX

Dartmouth

The Big Green could surprise the league this season. Junior forward Alex Adelabu was second in the league in goals last season and senior defender Colin Skelly and his back four look to be solid. The only question mark is how Chad Riley, an assistant last season who was promoted to head coach during the offseason, will handle the responsibility of being in charge. If he can push the right buttons, this could be a team to watch.

Penn

I’ll be honest. Had I not watched a bit of practice recently and spoken to senior captain Jonny Dolezal abou t the defense, the Quakers would be further down the list. But that’s not the case, and so here they are. Dolezal and Fuller both expect the defense to solve its issues from last season. If that does happen, then the Quakers could be real contenders in this conference. Offense has never been the Quakers’ issue, and Stephen Baker and Duke Lacroix look primed to explode after a summer of playing high level club soccer.

Princeton

The Tigers had luck on their side, having four of their Ivy contests go to overtime, with two of those games ending in ties and the other two in wins. The only win in the Ancient Eight that Princeton won by more than one goal was a Nov. 3 match against Penn that the Tigers took, 3-0. The Tigers have no big names on their roster, relying more on an attack focused on making the extra pass. Those same close games they took home a year ago may not go their way this year.

TIER 3: DOWN BY THREE, ONE MINUTE LEFT

Harvard, Yale and Columbia

All of these teams suffer from very much the same issue – they can’t score. Combining for less goals than Cornell scored on its own last season, these three teams just couldn’t find the back of the net. Surely, they each have their individual issues. Harvard allowed the second most goals in the league, while Columbia’s issue could not get enough shots on net.

SEE ALSO

Back line to basics: Penn soccer looking to revamp defense

Penn dynamic duo all set to strike

Penn soccer bequeaths net to next of Kinn

Three’s company for set of ascending sophomores

Finding the silver lining: The highlights of 2012

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