Penn men's soccer played Princeton in Princeton, NJ on Nov. 9.
Credit: Chenyao LiuThe sun never sets on the Penn Quakers.
Penn men’s soccer (13-2-1, 7-0 Ivy) has clinched its third-straight Ivy League title with a nail-biting 1-0 win over the Princeton Tigers in their own jungle. The game ground to a close just as Roberts Stadium was enveloped by golden light — from the sun hitting the horizon, or victory, take your pick.
The team’s 7-0 Ivy season is its first since 2021 and the 14th in Ivy history.
“I think players on both teams really raised their standard to try to win the match today, and they knew what was on the line,” coach Brian Gill said. “I think to single out one performance or single out one player would be unfair to the complete group.”
The gritty game was marked by strong defense, lots of movement on the field, and a game-winning goal from none other than senior forward Stas Korzeniowski. He now leads his team with 12 goals this season.
The match began with an offensive effort from the Red and Blue, with their first shot recorded in the seventh minute. Junior midfielder Erickson Sakalosky had a look at the goal but saw it blocked by a defender. For their part, strong defense by the Quakers — senior defender Leo Burney and junior defender Oliver Pratt in particular — staved off attempts on goal from the thirsty Tigers.
To no one's surprise, star sophomore goalkeeper Phillip Falcon III soared to the rescue in the box, stopping every shot of the game to achieve his ninth clean sheet of the year.
Navy and white jerseys seemed to chase each other up and down the field for the rest of the half — the first shot on goal came from Korzeniowski in the 18th minute but landed squarely in the hands of Princeton goalkeeper Andrew Samuels. Other shots to round off the first half came from senior defender Ben Do and senior midfielder Aaron Messer.
“Princeton's always a very respectable and good opponent, and from the beginning, you could see that it was kind of a scrappy fist fight where both teams are just trying to latch onto loose balls and to just try and get moments of possession and gain confidence,” Korzeniowski said.
The second half also began with good movement on the field as well as increased aggression.
Princeton forward Will Francis collided with Burney in midair, resulting in an alarming fall for Burney. He ultimately rose to walk it off and was awarded a free kick in Penn’s half of the field.
With 34 minutes left in the game, Francis's shot intended for the top left corner of the box curled just wide and into the outside netting. Another foul called with 30 minutes remaining resulted in a Princeton free kick, taken by Princeton junior midfielder/defender Jack Jasinski, who aired it right above the net.
Francis, to his credit, displayed incredible footwork throughout the game, at one point even out-dribbling half of the Penn squad.
With 13 minutes remaining, the referees carded Princeton forward Kevin Kelley for a trip, resulting in a free kick taken by Penn junior midfielder Patrick Cayelli. The foul set the tone for the rest of the match. With eight minutes remaining, the game got rowdy. A skirmish between Korzeniowski and Princeton midfielder Jack Hunt cleared the benches, forced all the referees into action, and drew the crowd to their feet.
After the incident, a Princeton coach was awarded a red card along with Princeton goalkeeper Khamari Hadaway.
“I think for me personally, I felt like I was being wrestled down,” Korzeniowski said. “They had a guy on me the whole time, like tight to me, and it was hard to breathe. There were a lot of fouls and a lot of kicking.”
With six minutes to go, Falcon was able to secure a scarily close attempt on net, but the Quakers locked in with a few remaining minutes in the game to get the ball away from the Tigers. A bicycle kick from Messer sent the ball rocketing back down the field with five minutes left, when senior forward Brandon Curran tripped up a Tiger defender to give Korzeniowski a good look at goal.
Korzeniowski ultimately shot low and to the left to hit the back of the net and secure Penn’s victory.
The Quakers ran the clock down for the remaining minutes of the game to the sound of “Let’s go, Penn” from the Red and Blue section of the crowd at Roberts Stadium.
Korzeniowski shouted out his teammates' resilience and belief as defining factors that won the group the game.
“There’s also just this unwavering belief that we carry with us when we play that we will get our moment and that will capitalize off of it,” he added.
The victory secured Penn the first seed in the Ivy League tournament, which will occur next weekend in Philadelphia.
“This is really what the guys work so hard for,” Gill said. “This is what the staff puts in the time and energy for, so to see all the smiling faces at the end of this one's really rewarding.”
Penn men’s soccer will face No. 4 seed Brown in the semifinal at 3 p.m. on Friday at Rhodes Field.
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