Three Up, Three Down: Penn men's soccer vs. Cornell

Three Up—

Rookies — Freshman forwards Alec Neumann and Sam Hayward have made their presence known this year. In Wednesday’s game against Drexel, Hayward scored two of Penn’s three goals, tying him with junior Duke Lacroix for the team lead. Neumann has started in all nine of the Quakers’ games and has recorded two goals and two assists.

Belief — Though the Red and Blue’s season does not look so different from 2012, everyone on the team has a strong belief that different results will be produced. Last season, Penn lost to Drexel three days before facing Cornell — the same setup as this week — but the difference now is that the Quakers are going into the Big Red match with a win, not a loss. Their belief in each other and themselves could change their luck and lead to another big triumph.

Breaking the losing streak — The Red and Blue were finally able to break their six-game losing streak on Wednesday against Drexel. This was their first win since the season’s opening weekend. The “City Derby” was the last nonconference game before Ivy play starts on Saturday night. Coming in with a win should boost the Quakers’ confidence in their match against the Big Red, who are coming off of a loss to Niagara.

Three Down—

Defense — In nine games, Penn has allowed 17 goals, an average of about two goals per game. The defensive unit as a whole is allowing too many goals and too many shots on goalies Tyler Kinn and Max Polkinhorne. The Quakers have been spending too much time defending their own goal rather than effectively and efficiently getting the ball up the field to the strikers.

Red cards — Two games last weekend produced two red cards for Penn. Senior Stephen Baker and sophomore Alex Murphy were thrown out of matches against FGCU and FIU respectively. Baker was issued two yellow cards before the match against the Eagles had even reached the 24th minute. This left the Quakers a man down for three quarters of the game. Two days later, Murphy left the match in the 60th minute with a straight red card. Playing a man down in both games certainly presented the Red and Blue with a challenge — one that they were not able to meet as the weekend resulted in two losses.

Duke Lacroix and Stephen Baker — Senior Stephen Baker and junior Duke Lacroix are two of Penn’s four captains this season. They should be the Quakers’ scoring powerhouses — yet they have been falling short. Combined, they have recorded six goals in nine games, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. As both captains and talented players, these two need to step up.