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Comeback in ’08 inspired title

By Alex Remnick 10/02/09 1:48am

In last year’s Ivy opener at Cornell, the Penn men’s soccer team trailed the Big Red by one with just twenty minutes left in the game. Then Penn’s Omid Shokoufandeh shocked Cornell with two goals in the next ten minutes to put the Quakers up for good, 3-2.

This Ivy League victory was the first of five last season and eventually propelled the Quakers to a conference championship.

Tomorrow Penn (3-3-2) will begin its 2009 Ivy schedule against the Big Red again, but this time the Quakers play host in the 7:30 p.m. game.

The rather inexperienced Penn team is excited to open the conference schedule on familiar turf.

“We’re looking forward to playing in front of our home fans for sure,” coach Rudy Fuller said. “We’ve gotten some really good crowds there this year.”

After an embarrassing 5-0 loss at Penn State Wednesday, the Quakers are extremely hungry for a victory.

“Truth be told, after [the] game [against Penn State], I don’t think it would matter who we play on Saturday,” Fuller said. “I think the guys would like to get right back out on the field, and I don’t think there’s any question that the guys are going to be ready to go.”

Nothing worked for Penn against the Nittany Lions. Fuller and the rest of the coaching staff took the blame for the loss and have pledged to be better prepared for Cornell as well as for the entire Ivy League season.

“We can almost look at this as our second season,” junior forward Tobi Olopade said. “We’ve got most of our non-conference games out of the way, and now we just have to focus on the thing that matters most — playing the Ivy League. Everyone on this team has that frame of mind.”

Cornell (4-3-1) will be a good test for the Quakers, who are aiming to repeat as Ivy League champions this season. The Big Red have only given up an average of 1.38 goals per game in their first eight games.

Cornell’s most dangerous player is forward Matt Bouraee, who has earned All-Ivy honors each of the past three years. He’s off to a strong start already in his senior campaign with eight points on two goals and four assists.

Penn’s most significant problem on defense has been losing track of its opponent’s strongest player. If the Quakers can hold off Bouraee, they will give themselves a good shot to win tomorrow.

“It’s an Ivy League game. Every Ivy League game is going to be competitive,” Olopade said. “We know that going in. It’s going to be a battle, and hopefully we [will] play a little better than we did at Penn State.”