A season to remember

Heading into the 2002 season, Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller set his sights high. He wanted his team to play in the NCAA College Cup.

This would not be an easy feat. His team finished the 2001 season in the cellar of the Ivy League, and, in order to receive a berth in the Cup, the Quakers would either need to dominate the Ivy League or leave themselves subject to the whims of a selection committee.

And dominate is just what they did. The Red and Blue finished the season 12-4-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the Ivy League.

They won a share of both the Ancient Eight and Philly Soccer 7 championships, and advanced to the second round of the College Cup for the first time in 29 years.

"We basically went from worst to first," junior goalkeeper Matt Haefner said. "We have a really good future."

By setting such a lofty goal for the year, Fuller created a winning atmosphere around the team that lasted all season.

"The biggest difference between this year and last year is that this year we expected to win," sophomore David Maier said.

All but two games in the 17-game season had one-goal decisions. The Penn defense consistently stepped up to earn the win, not relying on happenstance in their play.

"We won a lot of close games," Fuller said. "But I am a firm believer that you make your own luck. Luck was a residue of our hard work."

Leading the defense, Haefner earned a record breaking 10 shutouts and 0.45 goals-against average. He was named the Ivy League Player of the Year, was a first team selection to the NSCAA/adidas All-Mid-Atlantic team and was also a Philadelphia Soccer 7 All-Star.

"Haefner was just consistent this year," Maier said. "He was saving penalty kicks in big games and whenever we struggled to score goals, he was always there for us defensively."

Though Haefner may have gotten the shutout statistic in his box score, each win came from a strong team effort.

"The beauty of this team is that there was no standout," Fuller said. "All 11 guys were more committed to a result than what they would achieve individually."

However, many of the players did earn numerous individual honors while playing within the team first system.

Senior Nathan Kennedy and sophomore Erik Hallenbeck received first-team All-Ivy League honors, sophomore Stephen Kroculick was selected to the second team, and Maier and freshman Erik Violante received honorable mentions.

In addition to Haefner being the Philadelphia Soccer 7 Player of the Year, Fuller was named Coach of the Year and freshman John Rhodes was the Freshman of the Year.

With only one senior starter graduating in June, the results of this season provide a promising outlook for the future of the team.

Though the seniors are few, Fuller feels an understandable appreciation to this particular senior class.

"It is a very special graduating class," Fuller said. "It's my first recruiting class of guys who took a leap of faith to a program that was in a slump and for them to end with a championship -- that's a great story."

The Quakers will go into next season with even higher hopes as their young team continues to mature.

"We're still a young team," Haefner said. "It takes guys a couple of years to fulfill their full potential."

His coach agrees that this year's College Cup run season is only the beginning of Penn's success in the world of collegiate soccer.

"This team definitely opened some eyes this year," Fuller said. "But one year does not make a program."

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