PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team is back on the road after hosting two straight contests at Penn Park. The Quakers head to Providence on Saturday for a new Ivy League test with Brown at 7 p.m.
Penn was picked first in the Ivy League's preseason poll, which was announced by the league office on August 31. The Quakers received 119 voting points from 16 media members—two from each of the eight Ivy institutions—and garnered nine first-place votes. Cornell was picked second, with 115 points and six first-place votes, while Harvard got the final first-place vote and 87 points total to place third. Yale (73 points), Princeton (67), Dartmouth (49), Brown (42), and Columbia (24) rounded out the poll.
MATCH DAY 11 — PENN (3-3-4, 1-1-1 Ivy League) vs. Brown (4-4-3, 1-0-2 Ivy League)
Saturday, Oct. 14 | 7 p.m. | Providence, R.I.
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
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Penn vs. Brown
The all-time series between these two teams is fairly close, with the Bears having a 33-28-9 lead. The Red and Blue's most recent win in the series came last season when Penn shut Brown out 1-0 at Penn Park, with the sole goal of the game coming from
Stas Korzeniowski off a dish from
Mateo Zazueta. The last time the Bears won was during the 2021 season when Brown came out on top 2-0 in Providence.
Quaker Notemeal
*First-years were the name of the game on Tuesday, as
Joaquin Niehenke and
Jack-Ryan Jeremiah recorded career-high minutes against Monmouth. Niehenke saw the field for almost half the game, tallying 41 minutes, while Jeremiah played 22 minutes of the match.
*Penn is still riding an unbeaten streak at home that stretches back to the 2021 season. The Quakers have two wins and two draws on the season at Penn Park after tying with Monmouth 1-1 on Tuesday.
*Senior
Michael Hewes scored the game-tying equalizer against the Hawks during the 64th minute of the game off of feeds from Korzeniowski and Zazueta. The goal accounts for Hewes' fourth of the season, a team-high statistic he shares with Korzeniowski.
*Sophomore
Erickson Sakalosky tallied his first shot on goal of the season against the Hawks, attempting to hit the back of Monmouth's net during the 43rd minute of the game.
*Goalkeeper
Nick Christoffersen has been dependable in the net for the Quakers this season, holding a 0.80 goals-against-average and .762 save percentage.
*Penn went 13-3-2 overall last season and won the Ivy League title with a 6-1-0 mark. The Quakers then advanced to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2013 (11th time overall), defeating Big Ten Tournament champion Rutgers in the first round, 3-0, before falling in overtime to the eventual national champion Syracuse, 2-1. Of note, Penn was the last team to hold a lead against the Orange in the 2022 season.
*Penn's 13 wins overall were tied for the second-most in program history along with the 1971, 1973 and 2010 teams. Only the 1972 team (14-1-1) has more.
*Penn's six wins in Ivy League play were the most in a season since 1972, when the Quakers won the title with a 6-0-1 mark. The 1971 squad remains the only Penn team to go a perfect 7-0-0 in Ivy play.
*Penn returns plenty of firepower from a year ago, starting with the reigning Ivy League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in juniors Korzeniowski and
Leo Burney. (If you're doing the math, you are correct…both of them won the honors as sophomores.) Last year marked the first time that teammates swept the offensive and defensive honors since the award was split in 2013. The last sophomore to win Ivy Player of the Year before them last year? Rikki Dadason at Columbia in 1993.
*The pair of juniors—both of whom received All-America recognition last year by the United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News—were recently named to the Hermann Award Watch List as announced by the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC). Of the 37 players on the list, they were the only two Ivy Leaguers.
*This summer, both players contributed greatly to the success of Ballard FC in USL League 2 play, leading the club to the title in a thrilling victory over Lionsbridge FC, 2-1, on August 5. Korzeniowski scored the opening goal in the match, while Burney played a major role in setting up inside the box for the match winner.
*Korzeniowski—who also was Penn's goal scorer in the season opener at Fordham—wreaked havoc on opposing defenses throughout last season, scoring a conference-leading 10 goals and adding six assists for 26 points, the most by a Quaker in more than 25 years. He capped his season with goals in five of the team's final seven matches, including four of the last five Ivy contests.
*Penn also returns junior defender Do, who was honorable mention All-Ivy and won the Bill Wilkinson Rookie of the Year Award from the Philadelphia Soccer Six last year as a sophomore. He started all 18 matches last season.
*Senior Hewes was Penn's third-leading scorer last season, netting six goals, while junior Curran was the other multi-goal scorer in 2022.
*At the other end, Penn is bolstered by the return of Christoffersen for another season in goal. (He has gone the distance in all three matches so far this season.) The Canadian played all but four minutes between the pipes in 2022 and earned second-team All-Ivy, then was selected with the 25th pick of the 2022 MLS Super Draft third round (83rd overall) by CF Montréal.
*Penn's head coach is
Brian Gill, who moved into the director's chair in February 2018 after spending a year as an assistant coach under Rudy Fuller. He was a unanimous selection as Ivy League Coach of the Year last season and his staff was picked as the Northeast Region Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.
*Christoffersen and Hewes are two of this year's captains, along with senior
Jacob Muchnick and junior
Aaron Messer. Christoffersen also was a captain last season.
For the latest on Penn men's soccer, follow @PennMSoccer on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.