34th Street Magazine's "Toast" is a semi-weekly newsletter with the latest on Penn's campus culture and arts scene. Delivered Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
Free.
You know the old saying, “new year, new me?”
Well, Penn men’s soccer is taking that to heart this brand new season.
Flip back the calendar a year, and the Quakers limped out of a 4-0 loss to high-power American University team.
The Copa America is now in knockout mode, with the preliminary stages of the competition now finished.
But last weekend, the tournament certainly had knockout vibes running throughout Philly as three teams said goodbye to their Copa America dreams.
As noted poet Rocky Balboa once said: “When you get knocked down, get back up and keep moving forward.”
Responding to failure is a vital process in sports at all levels.
Two Penn freshman – football’s Christian Pearson and women’s soccer’s Sasha Stevens – were named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Week in their respective sports Monday.
Even if you were at yesterday’s game supporting the Big Green, you felt the disappointment and saw the frustration on the faces of Penn men’s soccer after 88 solid minutes of play without a score on either side ultimately gave way to a 1-0 Red and Blue defeat.
The floodgates have opened.
Six days ago, Penn men’s soccer was in dire straits. The team had failed to score a goal in five of its six matches in 2015, and found itself winless with Ivy play looming.
Consider the script flipped.
Penn football’s recent upset victory over Villanova — the program’s first in more than 100 years — has sent tremors throughout the Penn Athletics community.
For Penn men’s soccer, Wednesday's game was about a lot more than the score. In a game where the squad did most things right, the Quakers (0-5-1) could not come away with a win over No.