A successful season for Penn men’s soccer comes to a disappointing close, with an unexpected upset 1-0 loss in the NCAA tournament.
Penn men’s soccer (14-3-2, 7-0 Ivy) faced off against the University of Massachusetts Amherst (12-3-4, 5-2-1 Atlantic 10). With the No. 6 seed following an at-large NCAA bid, Penn hosted the game at Rhodes Field, but fell with a loss in the single-elimination tournament.
The first half was defined by a back-and-forth struggle for clean possession, but neither team had the opportunity to get a shot off. UMass applied a lot of pressure, particularly favoring the right side of the field. Its offensive push led to seven shots in the first half of play, but none would connect.
After a shot attempt by forward Alec Hughes, sophomore goalkeeper Phillip Falcon III saved the ball. But an attempted roll to his teammate was intercepted by Hughes dangerously close to the goal. With Falcon off the line, Hughes fired a shot that bounced off the crossbar. The ball rebounded straight back to forward Johan Feilscher who leapt to head the ball in the goal.
The only thing standing between him and the goal was senior defender Leo Burney. He hopped along the goal line with Falcon drawn out. Burney headed the ball out, sending it flying out of the Quakers’ area.
Burney’s save is indicative of his performance as Ivy League Defender of the Year. He and the rest of his senior class had taken home multiple conference awards, including midfielder Aaron Messer, defender Ben Do, and forwards Brandon Curran and Stas Korzeniowski — the latter of whom shared the title of Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year.
“They’re a really interesting group, and each one of those pieces feeds the other,” coach Brian Gill said. “Leo and Stas sometimes get the most notoriety, [but] I think all seven of the [seniors] contributed to their special quality as a group.”
The teams entered the second half of play tied 0-0, but there was a quick push by the Minutemen. A series of headers in the box ensued, and Hughes found the top left of the net after just two minutes of play to give the Minutemen the lead and only goal of the game at the 47th-minute mark.
Following this goal, UMass dominated control for the first ten minutes of the half, but the momentum then switched to Penn, which maintained possession for the majority of the remaining time and was knocking on UMass’ doorstep.
The Quakers had good ball movement and saw many crosses into the box, but for each one, a Minuteman was there to clear it. In a burst of energy and drive to keep their season alive, the Quakers got off nine total shots in the half, but all went off target or were blocked by goalkeeper Alex Geczy. Unfazed by taunts from the Quaker faithful behind him, Geczy had seven saves, including five in the second half.
In the 71st minute, it looked like Penn’s patient efforts might pay off when a shot by senior forward Stas Korzeniowski from just outside the six found the bottom left of the goal. Unfortunately for Penn, Korzeniowski was called offside, which was confirmed by review.
Penn never gave up hope, continuing to control play with persistent offensive efforts. The team had good looks with late-game corners, totaling four for the day, but UMass interrupted every attempt toward the goal until the final buzzer sounded.
Despite not moving forward in the NCAA Tournament, the senior class’ careers were marked by a turnaround since its freshman season, where it only won one Ivy game. Now it finishes as three-time regular season conference champions, leaving a lasting legacy for its younger teammates.
“There's like that expectation, to want to be in these kinds of games, [and] to want to be able to compete for conference championships, and so anytime you're able to kind of start to turn that corner, it's typically going to be because those messages take hold with groups, they start to raise their own standards and expectations,” Gill said in regards to the seniors’ impact.
Penn finishes the season with an impressive resume, including two defeats over then-nationally ranked teams Pitt and Hofstra and its third straight Ivy League regular season championship.
“There’s a finality you can’t prepare for,” Gill said. “Hopefully the guys will look back and really appreciate the accomplishments … We don’t get this game here in this tournament without having those successes.”
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