COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- "Shut up, Matt," and "Haefner, you suck," were some of the many shouts coming from behind the net of Penn senior goalkeeper Matt Haefner last night in the Quakers' game against No. 2 Maryland.
By the end of the match, Haefner's play had all but silenced the Terrapin faithful.
"Today, Matt Haefner played like an All-American," Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said after the game.
The senior co-captain finished the night with 11 saves as Maryland peppered the Penn goal with 23 shots.
The Terrapin fans might have even contributed to Haefner's dominant performance last night as their shouts forced him to concentrate solely on the game.
"Every time I moved, they said something. Some of it was pretty funny too -- I got a chuckle," he said.
After taking a surprising 1-0 advantage into the halftime break, the Quakers ultimately surrendered their lead and fell to the late-surging Terrapins, 2-1.
Penn got on the board first in the 24th minute, as sophomore midfielder John Rhodes slotted the ball past diving Maryland goalkeeper Craig Salvati.
Rhodes beat Maryland defender Chris Lancos through the box before converting the opportunity.
"It felt good [to be up 1-0], obviously, and we had an idea of what we wanted to do to maintain the lead," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "I think we scored a great goal -- a great individual effort from John Rhodes. We wanted to go out there and weather the storm after the goal."
Penn held its own against a potent Maryland offense for the remainder of the first stanza, but not without its fair share of close calls.
In the 32nd minute, Maryland's Jason Garey fired a bouncing ball just over the top of Haefner's net. Barely two minutes later the Terrapins' All-American midfielder Sumed Ibrahim poked a header just wide of the Penn post.
On that same play, sophomore defender Erik Violante left the game with a strained groin and would not return.
Violante's injury seemed to start a trend, as the Red and Blue ultimately lost three starters to injuries for the remainder of the game.
Junior co-captain Erik Hallenbeck -- the anchor of Penn's defense -- left the match at the start of the second half with a leg injury, which he had sustained in the 28th minute on a tough tackle.
The pain didn't stop there for the Quakers. Freshman defender Andy Howard went down with a gash under his right eye in the 78th minute and had to be escorted off the field by the Penn training staff.
Having lost three key defensive players, the Quakers were forced to make some significant adjustments to their backline.
Forward Richard Brushett and midfielder Artie Bartholomew had to fill the defensive void.
"We came into the game pretty banged up and lost too many guys tonight," Fuller said. "I give a lot of credit to the guys who filled in off the bench -- to walk onto the field and play out of position is difficult."
The loss of some of its key players coupled with Maryland's renewed energy in the second-half was too much for the beleaguered Penn team to handle.
Maryland charged out of the halftime break, scoring the equalizer in the 47th minute.
"We knew their coach probably laid into them at halftime," Hallenbeck said. "We just had to match their level of intensity and their quickness of play... but it didn't happen."
Instead, the Quakers looked tired as the match wore on and the Terrapins eventually took a 2-1 lead in the 73rd minute that they wouldn't surrender.
The Quakers certainly felt the impact of losing three starting defenders.
"I think had all of our starting lineup been there... we could have had more of a chance of getting a better result," Hallenbeck said.
Despite their loss to the No. 2 team in the nation, the Quakers feel they are ready for their next game against Yale.
"I think we need to take the level of play we brought against Maryland," Hallenbeck said, "and take it to Yale."
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