PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team defeated Colgate, 3-0, in its home opener Monday night at Rhodes Field. With the win the Quakers improved to 2-0-0 on the young season, while the Raiders fell to 0-4-0.
Quaker Notemeal
*
Joey Bhangdia, who was Penn's leading scorer in 2019, got untracked with a pair of goals on Monday night with one coming in each half.
*Senior
Ben Stitz had the Quakers' other goal on Monday night, his first of the season and first since October 5, 2019. He also had an assist.
*Penn's other assists came from
Matt Leigh,
RC Williams and
Charlie Gaffney.
*Nick Christofferson was seldom tested in the Penn goal, called upon to make just one save in collecting the clean sheet.
How It Happened
Joey Bhangdia put the Quakers in front in the 27th minute. Getting the ball along the left sideline, Bhangdia turned inside and twisted up his defender before powering a shot that bounced past Colgate keeper Andrew Cooke and inside the far post.
Ben Stitz doubled Penn's lead in the 53rd minute.
RC Williams got the play started along the right sideline, crossing it from deep in the corner.
Matt Leigh headed the ball right to Stitz' feet in front, and with no one around him the senior had plenty of time to deposit the ball past Cooke's left.
Bhangdia put this one to bed in the 70th minute. The goal again came from the right side, this time
Charlie Gaffney playing it across where Bhangdia slid into it at the near post and caught Cooke off guard, pushing it past his left.
Up Next
Penn—which moved into ninth place in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) regional poll—stays home at Rhodes Field two more times next weekend, hosting No. 17 Penn State on Friday and Loyola (Md.) on Monday. Both matches will kick off at 7 p.m.
#FightOnPenn
