M. Soccer poised for run at Ivy League crown

During the last few seasons, the Penn men's soccer team has begun to ascend from the depths of the Ivy League standings.

Last year, the Quakers kicked off the season with a strong start, but, after a series of injuries, finished a dismal seventh place (2-5) in the Ancient Eight.

This is the year the Red and Blue are hoping to change this pattern and shoot to the top of the Ancient Eight.

"We want to win the Ivy League title," Penn junior defender Robb Jankura said. "That's the bottom line."

This will be no easy feat, however, as this year's Ivy League competition is shaping up to be extremely tough.

"There is not a weak team in the league," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "All other seven teams are quality."

Last season, Princeton and Brown came out with the top spots in the Ancient Eight, but this year the race appears to be wide open.

"This is a very determined group," Fuller said. "They are playing at a good, high level and good things will happen if they continue to work this hard."

The Quakers will kick off the season at the Princeton Soccer Classic on Sept. 13 with games against Seton Hall and Farleigh-Dickenson. Both teams finished in the top-16 last year and will give Penn an opportunity to show its strength at the start of the season.

Fuller and his staff are looking to the experienced players to lead the team as they head into the difficult first games. Jankura and senior defensemen Nathan Kennedy and Will Lee, and senior midfielder Alex Maasry all have the experience and the leadership skills to lead the younger players against the competition.

"They've been through a few Ivy League seasons." Fuller said. "They know what to do."

Penn is returning 9 starters from last year's roster and fields a strong recruiting class for the second consecutive year.

The Quakers' final roster has not yet been decided upon, but the coaches are confident in the depth of the team.

"There is not much difference [from top to bottom] amongst the field players," Fuller said. "The freshman class is a quality class, but we could field an entire team of returning players."

Other key players returning include senior midfielder Carlos Torres, junior goalie Matt Haefner and sophomore Brian Candler, a defender.

The Quakers are hoping that the cohesiveness of the team will play a factor in leading Penn to Ivy success.

The chemistry "is as good as it's been," Jankura said. "There are no bad apples this year."

Some of this momentum feeds off last year's season highlight when Penn won the Philadelphia Soccer 7 title for the first time in the league's 23-year history. The league --which includes Penn, Temple, Villanova, Drexel, LaSalle, Philadelphia University, and St. Joe's--provides a strong test for the Quakers in their non-league games.

The recognition of the Soccer 7, coupled with a strong Ivy League schedule, gives Penn another opportunity -- if the Quakers come up fruitless in their quest for an Ivy title -- to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA College Cup.

And though this may be getting a bit ahead of themselves, the Quakers know that if they can make it into the NCAAs, they will take the berth any way they can get it.

"Every game is a big game," Fuller said. "We have two chances to get into the tournament -- an automatic or at at- large bid."

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