PHILADELPHIA - Three goals, three points.
The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team opened its 2019 Ivy League campaign in thrilling form, earning a 3-2 victory over Cornell - a team receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches top-25 - Saturday evening at Rhodes Field. The win pushes Penn to 4-3-1 overall and an important 1-0 in conference play.
PENN NEWS AND NOTES
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Ben Stitz scored in the fifth minute for his first career goal.
Jake Kohlbrenner assisted on the play for the fifth time in his career.
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Brandon Bartel's penalty kick goal in the 19th minute is the senior captain's first career score.
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Joey Bhangdia now has five goals on the year, including three game-winners.
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Dane Jacomen collected two saves in the win.
*The Quakers scored three goals in a single game for the first time since last season's 3-2 overtime win over Monmouth. It was Penn's first three-goal performance in an Ivy League game since a 3-0 win over Harvard in 2017.
*Penn is 1-0 in the Ivy League for the first time since 2016.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It didn't take long for the Quakers to get off on the right foot, as Stitz sent in a beauty just five minutes in, taking a well placed ball in the box from Kohlbrenner and tucking it under the bar to give the Quakers an early 1-0 lead.
Cornell struck right back though, answering with a goal in the 10th minute following a scrum in the box after Jacomen got contact.
With both teams finding success early, the intensity ratcheted up on Rhodes, including both teams using physical plays to their advantage. The Quakers earned a penalty kick opportunity in the 19th minute after a handball in the box, and Bartel stepped up to strike it. The senior captain delivered, hammering the ball straight to the back of the net, vaulting Penn back ahead, 2-1.
Penn was able to hold off the Big Red to enter the halftime break still maintaining a one-goal advantage, despite getting outshot the rest of the period following the PK, 4-0.
Both teams opened the second half with opportunistic opportunities, including a laser from
Joey Bhangdia in the 51st minute that just skirted above the crossbar. Bhangdia wouldn't be denied for long however, as Penn upped its lead to 3-1 in the 64th, getting the ball into the box off a throw in, followed by a pass from Stitz to Bhangdia who fizzed the ball inside the far post and into the back of the onion bag.
Cornell upped the ante, knowing it needed goals, and the Big Red capitalized on another messy play in front of the goal line in the 79th off a free kick, looping a ball past a charging Jacomen to draw within one at 3-2. The final 10 minutes of action saw frantic play, with Penn doing all it could to knock away any danger from the Big Red. Cornell saw a near-fatal chance at the final horn but Jacomen collected the save to help lift the Quakers past the Big Red.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Quakers will continue Ivy League action with a road match next Saturday, Oct. 13, at Columbia. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.
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