“College soccer is won in the boxes.”
Senior back Jason deFaria made that simple statement following Penn men’s soccer defeat to West Virginia on Tuesday night and it rang true throughout the game.
The Quakers fell to the Mountaineers, 1-0, in the Red and Blue’s final nonconference game of the season. Penn (6-7-1) controlled the tempo for most of the game, but in a physical contest against West Virginia (9-6-1), a few key plays in the boxes made all the difference.
West Virginia midfielder Mike Desiderio’s header in the 8th minute off of a free kick from Andy Bevin put the Mountaineers ahead early and the Red and Blue never found a way to get on the board.
“It’s a game that we absolutely need to win. You only give up three shots over the course of 90 minutes, you can’t come away without a win there,” coach Rudy Fuller said.
“When you look at this game, where the game was won and lost was that final pass and getting on the end of things on the attack and making sure we’re first to the ball in our box defensively.”
The Quakers picked up the pressure in the second half and appeared to have numerous scoring opportunities down the stretch, yet the West Virginia defense held firm. Junior Forrest Clancy had a pair of corner kicks in the waning minutes, including one that banged off the far corner of the goal.
Scoring chances were few and far between for much of the match, but Penn certainly seemed to find most of its offensive success in the final 15 minutes.
“We just identified that we had some rhythm going down our right side, so we just kept stressing to do that,” deFaria said.
“They started to sit in a bit more which gave us some more opportunities. No matter how much you have the possession, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard.”
Penn fans had a scary moment in the second half as senior captain Duke Lacroix went down with an apparent injury following a strong offensive series, but Lacroix would return within minutes and continue to play the remainder of the game.
However, the Quakers wouldn’t leave the match entirely unscathed as sophomore midfielder Matt Poplawski left the game with a shoulder injury. His status is uncertain moving forward.
With their final nonconference game finished, the team’s entire focus can shift back to the Ivy League — though it likely never left. Penn has three games remaining — one each against Brown, Princeton and Harvard — and still has the potential to finish atop the league with some help from Dartmouth.
With three teams tied for second and two points behind league-leader Dartmouth, the Ivy League is still anyone’s conference, though Dartmouth controls its own destiny.
“Before this game our coaches were really stressing that we need to be ready to go to war. That’s what we’re going to need to have going into this Brown game,” deFaria said.
“It’s going to be — more than anything — just will.”
