With both Penn soccer teams successfully defending their positions at the top of the Ivy League this weekend, it’s no surprise that the individual honors rolled in for the Quakers on Monday.
Breakout freshmen Kerry Scalora and Stephen Baker each earned their third Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after strong performances on Saturday, while junior forward Marin McDermott was named Ivy Player of the Week for the first time this season.
McDermott led the offense in Penn’s 3-2 overtime win over Brown, scoring two goals and assisting classmate Ursula Lopez-Palm for the game-winner.
Though McDermott’s first goal, which was assisted by Scalora, opened scoring, the score didn’t stay 1-0 for long. Brown responded with a goal of its own fourteen minutes later and took the lead after halftime.
But McDermott refused to let the Quakers’ Ivy title chances slip away. With under 14 minutes left in regulation, the junior sent a header past the Brown goalkeeper to tie the game.
In addition to assisting Penn’s first goal, Scalora led the Quakers (9-6-1, 4-1-1 Ivy) with three shots on goal. She is now tied at the top of the stat sheet with McDermott and senior Sarah Friedman to lead the Quakers with 12 points. Scalora has seven assists and five goals on the season.
With the Ivy title and the NCAA bid on the line, both McDermott and Scalora will look to repeat their strong offensive performance this weekend when they close out the Ivy season at Princeton.
A win or tie against the Tigers (9-6-0, 4-2-0) will give Penn an Ivy championship and will send them to the postseason.
The Penn men will also play a critical game against Princeton this weekend, as the two undefeated teams fight for the top spot in the Ivy League and a postseason bid.
As they try to preserve their road to an Ivy title, the No. 14 Quakers (12-3-0, 5-0-0) will look to Baker, who is tied for first in the Ancient Eight in points, to repeat his clutch performance against Brown.
After five scoreless matches, Baker dribbled around Brown keeper Paul Grandstand — who entered the contest having allowed just five goals all season — to score his fourth game-winning-goal of the season.
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