Quaker Meeting House (QMH) has some thoughts as he sits in the waiting room of his local cardiologist…
Seriously, as a Penn fan could you even handle this weekend? Belief and disbelief on Friday night at men's soccer on Penn Park. Belief, then disbelief…over and over…Saturday night at football in Cambridge. And then, just when you're ready to give up all hope…Monday night at The Palestra.
***
So let's start with Friday night. Penn was hosting the inaugural Ivy League Tournament in men's soccer after winning the regular-season championship. As the top seed, the Quakers were pitted against fourth-seeded Brown in Friday's second semifinal after second-seeded Harvard and third-seeded Yale tussled in the opener.
Yale left little doubt on Friday afternoon, the Bulldogs crushing the Crimson 4-0. That left the nightcap.
What a nightcap.
The drama actually started a day earlier, when senior goalkeeper
Nick Christoffersen was injured in practice and lost for the weekend. Yeah, the
Nick Christoffersen who played every minute of every match this season. The one who played all but four minutes last season. The one who was first-team All-Ivy this season and second-team All-Ivy a year ago. The one who was drafted by Montreal in last year's MLS SuperDraft.
Into the breach stepped a freshman,
Phillip Falcon III. No pressure, kid. Only a season on the line.
Penn and Brown kicked off knowing that a loss meant the season was over. The Ivy was down a bit this season on the men's side and so it was widely assumed that the only way into the NCAA Championship field was through a pair of wins this weekend at Penn Park. It magnified every moment of what turned into one of most memorable sporting events QMH can remember.
The match was scoreless for 70 minutes before a moment of magic from
Leo Burney put Penn in front. A ball came in from the left side and the junior defender created an indelible memory by scoring on a bicycle kick. It was his first goal of the season. (BTW, if you haven't seen the Tweet, QMH has it here…check out
Stas Korzeniowski's continued stunned reaction to Leo's goal. Absolutely classic.)
At that point, belief was high. After all, this was a Penn team that allowed just two goals across its last five Ivy matches looking to hold off a Brown side that, after opening Ivy play with a 4-0 romp of lowly Columbia, had managed just two goals in its next six conference matches.
Two! You had to like the odds.
Brown took those odds and kicked them straight out of Penn Park. The Bears equalized with a mere 2:29 left in regulation to send things to overtime and then, unbelievably, scored
again in the eighth minute of the extra session to go in front. It took them 9:33 of match time to equal the amount of goals they had scored in their previous 634-plus minutes of league play.
Belief was low.
Not that long ago, the goal would have been called a "golden goal" and signaled the end of the match. Not anymore; they play the full 20 minutes of extra time. So Penn still had life and, suddenly pressed to find an equalizer of their own, got it after the teams had switched ends.
Stas Korzeniowski put the paddles to Penn's flickering hopes and gave them the life they needed.
Belief was back.
After that, it was all about penalty kicks.
Amazingly, the first one came in the run of play. A Penn player took a Brown player down in the goal box and the Bears were awarded a PK that, essentially, would have ended the match. (There was only 3:41 left.) Belief was pushed aside by the anticipation of heartache—after all, how often does a goalie save a penalty?—as QMH watched the Brown player place the ball on the spot, take his steps back, wait for the whistle, run toward the sphere, take his kick and...wait...
DID FRESHMAN PHILLIP FALCON THE THIRD JUST SAVE A PENALTY KICK?!?!
Enter PKs. It's the most stressful situation in the sport and has broken the greatest of men and women.
There was belief…but it was a wary belief..
Michael Hewes opened things by converting his shot, only to be matched by Brown's first shooter. The next Quaker had his shot saved by the Bears keeper, only for Falcon to again come up with a stop to keep things tied 1-1 through two rounds.
Jacob Muchnick converted to open the third round, and again Brown leveled it in the bottom half.
At that point, everything went awry. Penn's next shooter missed the goal wide. Brown converted, putting the pressure on the Quakers' fifth shooter to score. He, too, missed the net—and just like that, Brown was moving on to Sunday's final with Yale. (Yale would go on to win that, 2-1.)
It was an awful encore to what was a magical month for the Quakers, who opened Ivy play with a tie against Yale and a loss at Dartmouth but then racked up 13 of a possible 15 points across their final five league matches to win the program's second straight Ivy title. Being just six days removed from celebration, laughter and tears of joy on Dunning-Cohen Champions Field only compounded Friday's 180-degree emotional heel turn. The only recognizable element was the team's all-white kits; everything else felt completely different.
***
The next day, the football team took the field at venerable Harvard Stadium with everything still in front of it. Beat the Crimson, and the Quakers would be one of at least three and possibly four teams entering Week 10 with a 4-2 Ivy record. Beat Princeton in the finale, and it would be time to get the ring-sizer out.
Things were bleak through the first half. Harvard is powerful, and athletic, and for most of the first 30 minutes they imposed their will. The second quarter was particularly disheartening, as the Crimson nearly doubled Penn up in time of possession (9:57 to 5:03) and outgained the Quakers, 149-60. When the Red and Blue looked like they might be able to get a late score, they threw a hard-luck interception in Harvard territory and the Crimson were content to take a 20-10 lead into the locker room.
This Penn team has proven resilient throughout the season, and on Saturday they might have put together their best performance.
The third quarter did not necessarily inspire confidence. Penn kept Harvard off the board and made it a one-possession game on a
Graham Gotlieb 23-yard field goal, but even that left QMH wanting—a third-down play at Harvard's 6-yard line was sniffed out by the Crimson D and fell incomplete. QMH worried that those points left off the board might come back to haunt the team. In addition, the Crimson once again ate up nearly double the clock in the period (9:42 to 5:18), and at some point QMH figured the defense was simply going to run out of gas.
Penn already had the ball as the teams switched ends for the fourth quarter, and the Quakers marched right down and scored on a
Malachi Hosley 1-yard rush. Suddenly this thing was tied and, just as at the start of the day, everything was in front of this incredible group.
My goodness, what transpired after that.
Harvard embarked on a drive that featured 19 plays.
Nineteen plays! It took nearly nine minutes off the clock. It was, in many ways, the kind of drive that legends are made of.
On this day, the legends wore white.
When Harvard came to the line for first-and-goal at the Penn 5-yard line and about 2:30 left in the game, someone sitting next to QMH said "maybe you let them score here so you get the ball with some time left." It wasn't an unreasonable suggestion. Instead, Harvard ran and gained two yards. A false start moved the Crimson back to the 8, and then Penn sacked the Harvard QB and took a timeout—you know, so there would be some time when they got the ball. A Crimson pass fell incomplete, stopping the clock again, and so Harvard lined up for a chip-shot field goal from 30 yards and the lead.
No good. Wide right. Suddenly, it was Penn ball on its 20-yard line, 2:15 on the clock, and destiny at stake.
QMH believed.
Hosley ripped off an 18-yard run on second down to get the ball to the 40, and belief was growing. On third and 6,
Aidan Sayin found
Bryce Myers across the middle for a first down into Harvard territory. Belief was growing. Hosley ran for three yards to the 45, time out with 13 seconds. Sayin to Haight, incomplete. Seven seconds left. From afar, the debate raged: kick now? See if you can run one more play to get a few more yards? Hail Mary?
QMH was in the "one more play" crowd and, it turned out, so were the coaches. Sayin hit
Joshua Casilli for three yards and the senior got out of bounds before the clock zeroed out. Out trotted
Albert Jang to attempt a 59-yard field goal. Belief? High. Off the charts high. As the team lined up, QMH turned to the person next to him and said "this will be a school record distance for a field goal when he hits it."
Kick blocked. Overtime.
Penn went first, ran three plays that didn't get them much, and kicked a field goal. Harvard took the field knowing a touchdown would win it and wasted no time getting to work, snapping off a 12-yard reception on its first play and gaining first down at Penn's 2-yard line just three plays after that.
Belief was low.
First down was a rush up the middle that gained a yard, and QMH was like "three more plays like this and it's over. Three? Probably fewer." Second down was in fact the same play, with the same player, but this time Penn held him up for no gain. Belief flickered. On third down, Harvard went left and the QB kept it, only to again be stuffed. Belief was lit. Chatter was high. It was fourth down! What would Harvard do? Go for the win? Settle for the tie?
Harvard lined up in a short-yardage formation—
they're going for the win!—but then called timeout to talk it over. When they broke from the sideline, it was the field goal unit for a 19-yarder and a second overtime.
Belief was back.
Now Harvard was starting with the ball, and on the Crimson's second play
Logan Nash intercepted. Suddenly Penn was on offense knowing that any sort of score would win.
Belief was so, so high.
Penn went fairly conservative, running three plays that gained six yards. QMH liked the idea. Hosley has proven that he can rip off big yards from any situation, but at the very least you're moving the ball forward and getting closer for a field-goal kicker that you have confidence will split the uprights. So it was that on fourth down, the ball was snapped from the 19 for a 36-yard field goal. Wide left.
Belief, wavering.
In NCAA rules, at the third round of overtime the teams go to 2-point conversion attempts. If you score yours and the other team doesn't, it's over. In many ways, it's football's equivalent of—wait for it—penalty kicks. (QMH just thought of the analogy as he sits here writing. Adding it to his repertoire.)
Penn went first. Sayin took the snap, danced around in the pocket to buy himself time, but his pass fell incomplete in the end zone. That meant Harvard came out knowing that a score would win it. The QB took the snap and dished it to a receiver coming in motion from the right side. The receiver then handed off to a back coming toward the middle from the left and…wait, is that the quarterback running out to the right corner of the end zone? Is that back stopping his run and setting himself to pass?
My God, they're not, are they? They are!
Harvard is running "Philly Special"!
QMH (and everyone around him) was practically shouting at his computer screen as the ball went into the air. And it seemed like, at the same moment, all the Penn defenders also realized what was happening—but it was too late. The ball settled into the QB's arms and this game…this epic of a game…was put to rest.
Harvard 25, Penn 23.
It was an absolute gut punch. Coming on the heels of Friday night? Oof. QMH was ready for someone to throw in the towel.
***
As the ball went up Monday night at The Palestra, a nice crowd had settled into The Palestra. It would be announced as just shy of 7,000 but it seemed to grow as the night progressed. (With good reason, it turned out.) Of particular note, the student section—a.k.a. the "Quake Zone"—had shown out, several hundred students staking out seats in their new roost at the East end of the old barn.
They were there to cheer on their classmates, of course. But would it be unfair to say they were there to check out Penn's opponent? Probably not. After all, it's not every day that a top-25 team comes to The Palestra to take on the Quakers. In fact, these days it's usually just Monday's opponent, Villanova, as part of the Big 5 rivalry.
For the last two decades, spanning 10 games at the Cathedral of College Basketball, the script has typically run a familiar course—Villanova comes in with its national ranking, puts on a show, and walks out with a win. Sometimes it's been close, but more often than not it's been comfortable. Sure, there was 2018—
you might remember that night—but Villanova fans would probably be quick to say that was a pretty good Penn team (it was) and a Wildcats team that was re-calibrating after losing a ton of talent from its second NCAA championship team in three years.
Well, the Penn team that took the floor Monday night did so with modest preseason expectations—fifth place in the Ivy League's preseason media poll—while Villanova arrived with a lot of talk that maybe their No. 21 national ranking was too
low, if anything, given all the talent on the roster. Heck,
some folks have them making the Final Four.
So when Penn led at the under-16 media timeout (7-3), then the under-12 media timeout (11-7), the crowd was probably more thrown by how little offense there was. The lead was still four at the under-8 media (18-14), the offenses still struggling, and after Villanova tied it a few times Penn took a 28-27 lead into the under-4. The crowd? Unmoved.
Villanova took its first lead when Justin Moore hit a pair of free throws. It was a modest six-point run for the 'Cats but you could almost hear their sizable contingent saying
finally! About time we start putting these upstarts away!
Not quite yet. Penn's precocious freshman,
Tyler Perkins, was fouled and hit both of his shots. Then, after Moore missed the front end of a 1-and-1,
Clark Slajchert raced down the court and hit an impossibly angled floater.
Halftime score: Penn 32, Villanova 30. Belief? To be honest…
nah. Not yet. After all, this happens all the time in college hoops, right? The underdog hangs around for awhile before the big dog gets it going and runs away with a comfortable win.
So in the second half, the anticipation of order being restored continued to percolate in the stands as Penn's lead grew to five (39-34 on a Slajchert floater with 17:34 left), then six (50-44 on a
Nick Spinoso hook in the paint with 11:32 left).
When did belief really start kicking in? QMH would estimate about the moment that Perkins stepped back into a three-point shot from up top that splashed through the basket with 8:26 left. That made the score 57-48, Penn's largest lead of the night, and suddenly the crowd surged with noise. When Villanova's trey was matched by sophomore Cameron Thrower, the surge loudened.
The high point? That one's easier. After Villanova got within three, at 60-57, Penn held its poise and scored the next eight points. As the clock went under four minutes, Perkins missed a jumper but
Johnnie Walter got the rebound—the Quakers would outboard the Wildcats on the night, 38-35—and then
Ed Holland III drove and kicked to Perkins in front of the bench. The freshman ball-faked, then went up for a three-pointer. Swish.
The lead was 11, The Palestra was at full throat, and Villanova was taking a timeout. Belief—or was it disbelief?—was suddenly sweeping through the crowd.
Anyone who has watched Villanova over the last 15 years or so knows that it's never truly over until the final buzzer. So there were certainly moments that caused QMH to catch his breath and maybe cover his eyes down the stretch. Penn's lead was still seven with 17.4 seconds left, but Villanova wrapped a pair of three-pointers around a Slajchert free throw and fouled the senior on the inbound after the second trey. With 3.8 seconds left on the clock and the score 74-72—the closest margin since the 13:15 mark—Slajchert stepped to the line. QMH had belief (
Clark has been an 84-percent free throw shooter for his career!) tinged with a dose of reality (
Clark is just 2 for 7 this season and missed one of his two shots a few seconds ago. Is he gonna be in his own head?!?!)
The mixed emotions were unwarranted; the shots swished through the way they have so many times the last two seasons. Down four, Villanova was looking for a miracle and threw a full-court pass that was tipped to the corner by junior
George Smith and pulled in by Perkins. Penn 76, #21 Villanova 72.
For the third time in four nights, the match of belief was lit. On Monday, a fire was (finally) found.
#FightOnPenn
