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University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Men’s Soccer Ivy League Regular SeasonTitle
1
Princeton PRI (4-9-3, 1-4-2)
4
Winner Penn PENN (7-3-5, 4-1-2)
Princeton PRI
(4-9-3, 1-4-2)
1
Final
4
Penn PENN
(7-3-5, 4-1-2)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Princeton PRI 1 0 1
Penn PENN 3 1 4

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

Men’s Soccer Bests Princeton on Senior Day, 4-1; Clinches Ivy Title and ILT Top Seed

PHILADELPHIA – The road to the NCAA College Cup runs through Penn Park. The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team made sure of that with a successful Senior Day on Saturday evening, beating Princeton 4-1.
 
With the win, Penn recorded its second straight Ivy League regular-season title, just the second time the program has won back-to-back championships (the other time coming in 1971 and 1972). As a result, the Quakers will host the inaugural Ivy League Tournament next Friday and Sunday at Penn Park. Penn moved to 4-1-2 in league play (7-3-5 overall), while the Tigers' season came to an end at 4-9-3 (1-4-2 Ivy League).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Four different Quakers scored in the match with Michael Hewes, Mateo Zazueta, Brandon Curran, and Oliver Pratt all finding the back of the net.
 
*Senior goalkeeper Nick Christoffersen made three saves and heads into the postseason with a 0.67 goals-against average and a .811 save percentage.
 
*Penn celebrated its eight seniors before the match. The Class of 2024 for Penn men's soccer consists of Christoffersen, Hewes, Zazueta, Krystian Kresso, Josh Negrete, Mattias Hanchard, Jacob Muchnick, and Michael teDuits.
 
*Junior Stas Korzeniowski tallied his 17th point of the year, assisting on Zazueta's goal. Korzeniowski leads the offense in assists (7) and points.
 
How It Happened 
Princeton got to work quickly in the match, putting two shots on net in the first six minutes of the game with a Walker Gillespie re-direction getting past Christoffersen to put the Tigers on the board.
 
That goal caused a spark with both teams' offenses, creating an intensity that led to a Princeton penalty and an opportunity for Penn to get on the board in the eighth minute. Hewes converted a penalty kick for his eighth goal of the season; it was his second straight game with a PK goal and this one tied the match at 1-1.

 

Three minutes later, the senior Zazueta nailed the go-ahead goal off a dish from Korzeniowski to push Penn ahead 2-1. Between the 14th and 20th minutes the Quakers attempted five more shots at Princeton keeper William Watson's net, three of them coming from junior Charlie Gaffney, but all five were saved or redirected by Tigers defenders.

In the 24th minute, Princeton's offense attempted its final shot of the half at Christoffersen, but the keeper made a save in the top right of his net to keep the deficit at two goals.
 
Penn closed out the first 45 with another goal in the 39th minute, the junior Curran heading in his third goal of the season off passes from Ben Do and teDuits to extend the Quakers' lead to 3-1 going into halftime.

 
Coming out of the halftime break, Christoffersen made a big save off a corner to hold Princeton at one goal.

Both teams were quiet after Christoffersen's save in the 57th minute until Penn caught a spark 12 minutes later. Pratt found the back of the net in the 69th minute to score his first collegiate goal and bring the Quakers closer to the regular season title with the score moving to 4-1.
 
The final two shots of the match came within two minutes of each other, as Do tried to join in on the scoring fun in the 71st minute but Watson made the save in the bottom left of his net. Princeton's Nico Nee attempted the last shot of the Tigers' season in the 73rd minute, Christoffersen making the save to secure the lead and the Ivy League regular-season title for Penn.
 
Up Next
As the top seed, Penn will host the Ivy League Tournament next Friday and Sunday. In Friday's semifinals, second-seeded Harvard and third-seeded Yale will kick off at 3 p.m. followed by the top-seeded Quakers and fourth-seeded Brown at 6:30 p.m. The winners from those matches will advance to Sunday's final, which will kick off at 1 p.m. The winner of that match will earn the Ivy League's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship field. Tickets for the ILT will go on sale starting Monday.
 
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