Men's Soccer preps for Seton Hall

Before this season, it had been 25 years since the Penn men's soccer team had qualified for the NCAA College Cup.

Now, the Quakers will not only play in the tournament, but will also host a first-round game.

Seton Hall will visit Rhodes Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. to take on the Quakers in a rematch from the first game of the season.

"I'm absolutely excited," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "It's great anytime you get to play a tournament game at home."

The Quakers (11-3-1) lost to the Pirates (9-7-3) in that first game of the year, a 1-0 decision.

Michael Zotti scored the game's lone tally in the 71st minute on a breakaway, on an assist from Alim Lbragimov.

Since then, however, the Pirates have struggled in league play, going 5-5 in the Big East, while the Quakers went 5-1-1 in the Ivy League. However, the Big East is a higher-rated conference than the Ancient Eight.

The Pirates are led by Phil Swenda, who has 21 points on the season, and Vincent Scerbo, who has 18. Zotti has only 6 points.

Fuller said that it doesn't really matter than the two teams met each other earlier in the year.

"I think we're certainly a better team than we were at that point [the first two times the teams played]," Fuller said. "But you could say the same thing about them.

"We feel pretty good about where we stand right now," he added. "At this point, any team you play is going to be a good one."

The teams did not just meet earlier this year, as the Red and Blue have a long history of playing the Pirates. Penn upset the 11th-ranked Pirates early during the 2001 season, 3-2. They also usually play each other during the Spring in a scrimmage.

"Both teams are very familiar with each other," Fuller said.

One of the biggest advantages for the Quakers is the fact that it will be played on Penn's home field. Rhodes Field was renovated over the summer, and now features expanded and improved stands.

With the football team away at Cornell, and the basketball game not until that night, a large crowd could be expected for the game.

"I would expect good support from the student body as well as the community," Fuller said. "I would think the crowd would be such an advantage. I just hope we can get the word out and get a bunch of students there."

The winner of the Penn-Seton Hall game will play the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., on Wednesday night. The Huskies received a first-round bye, and are 15-5 on the season.

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