Scarlet Knights deal Penn men's soccer bad defeat

If Penn men’s soccer was hoping to repeat last year’s NCAA Tournament appearance, it certainly isn’t making things easy on itself.

Missing their senior center back Jason deFaria due to a one game suspension following his red card in their last game, the Quakers fell to Rutgers on the road on Tuesday night, 4-1.

But Penn coach Rudy Fuller is not one for excuses.

“It’s a team sport,” he said. “One guy is not going to make the difference in a game like tonight ... We weren’t good enough in any area.”

The Quakers (5-6) took control of the game early with a goal in the 18th minute from sophomore forward Alec Neumann. Neumann logged his sixth of the season after an assist from his fellow forward, senior Duke Lacroix.

Following the goal, however, the 10-minute span from the 24th to the 34th minute showcased an offensive flurry from Rutgers (4-7-1). The Scarlet Knights fired off six shots, two of which had to be saved by junior goalkeeper Max Polkinhorne.

The last found the back of the net off a shot from midfielder Erik Sa. The sophomore scored off of a free kick in the 34th minute, leveling the scoreline at 1-1.

The next 10 minutes belonged to Penn’s offense, who rattled off three shots in three minutes. Two of the three were from Lacroix, and each had to be blocked by Rutgers’ keeper. Nevertheless, the Quakers were unable to find the net and were forced to take the 1-1 tie into half.

The scoreline in the second half would prove to be dominated by the Scarlet Knights, who netted three unanswered goals to hand the Quakers a tough loss.

Momentum seemed to shift in Rutgers’ favor after the team was awarded a penalty kick in the 55th minute of the match. Junior JP Correa slid the ball into the corner of the net, and the Scarlet Knights never looked back.

“At that point they had gotten a goal off a direct free kick and a goal off of a penalty kick,” Fuller said. “They really hadn’t earned anything at that point, yet they had a 2-1 lead. So that was a tough pill to swallow.”

Polkinhorne — who entered the game leading the Ivy League with 5.3 saves per match — made seven stops against Rutgers in his attempt to keep his team within arm’s reach. However, despite a whopping 22 shots by the Quakers, Penn was unable to prevail.

“When you outshoot a team 22-16, you don’t expect to lose 4-1 or only score one goal,” Fuller said. “So [we’ve] got to put more of those chances away, and on the flip side, [we’ve] got to be better defensively.”

Though Rutgers’ goalie had seven saves, and defenders blocked many of the other shots by the Quakers, Lacroix agrees that efficient finishing is something his squad must work on.

“More so than anything, we have to finish our opportunities,” he said. “If we have two shots we should really have two goals, and that’s how we look at it. And I think scoring will also translate to good defense. If we put a couple in, it takes a lot of pressure off our back line.”

Rutgers’ success Tuesday night was largely due to another stellar performance from its rookie sensation, freshman forward Jason Wright. Wright recorded two goals in the second half, giving him a team-leading seven tallies on the season.

The Quakers are now below .500 on the season, and their match this Saturday at Dartmouth is now — in all likelihood — a must-win for the Red and Blue if they want to keep their postseason dreams alive.

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