Penn men's soccer faces one last nonconference opponent

For Penn men’s soccer, it is always one game at a time.

After drawing Yale on Saturday night, the Red and Blue (6-6-1) are looking forward to playing their final nonconference match of the year when West Virginia travels to Rhodes Field on Tuesday night.

Coach Rudy Fuller does not want his players to dwell on the past and hang their heads about the Yale game. After all, West Virginia (8-6-1) is a serious threat.

“I think [Tuesday’s match]is another game against a top tier opponent. West Virginia is a really talented group that has some special individual players. They’re very athletic, ” Fuller said. “It’s going to be another good test. We’ve had a number of them this year and we’re still looking to turn somebody over.”

Those players that Fuller mentioned are two of West Virginia’s starting forwards, Andy Bevin and Jamie Merriam , who have scored nine and seven goals on the season, respectively. They are two of West Virginia’s best attackers on the offensive side of the ball. However, Fuller emphasized that — just as it did for other opponents this season — Penn will focus on a team effort on defense.

“I think our strength is in our collective [defensive] effort. It’s not that we’re going to sit there and man-mark them all over the field, ” he said. “We just have to be really alert and in tune and play together defensively. If we do that, I think we are very tough to break down for an individual or a group.”

In addition, West Virginia’s defense is very strong. In 11 of the team’s 15 games, the defense has allowed only one goal or shut out its opponents. The defense will pose a threat to the Quakers, who have only had one three-goal game since Sept. 7.

For senior forward Duke Lacroix , tomorrow is just like any other game of the season in his mind. He will look for setups in the offensive zone as usual and will look to put the ball in the net.

“Just combining with [Alec] Neumann up top or whoever the other striker is, ” Lacroix said. “I think if we stick to our gameplan and keep the game as simple as possible, opportunities will follow and one of them will go in. [We need to] keep being relentless on the attack.”

For Penn, Fuller reiterated that the team needs to work on its defensive effort. While Penn has allowed just four goals in four Ivy contests, many of the goals have the same causes.

“We’ve tightened it up a little bit, ” Fuller said. “It’s little things like ... defensive clearances, hunting the second ball, winning the first ball, being good in defensive restarts.”

Ultimately, Penn does not control its own destiny and will need some help from other teams — namely a loss from Dartmouth — in order to take the Ivy title. However, these various scenarios do not concern the Red and Blue.

“I’m confident that if we do our job we are going to be Ivy League champions, ” Fuller said. “Even though the math doesn’t work out in that we control our own destiny, I still feel that if we can control and do our job, we will be the last ones standing.”

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