PHILADELPHIA – After defeating Princeton and becoming the 2023 Ivy League regular season champions, the University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team hosts the fourth-seeded Brown Bears in the semifinals of the Inaugural Ivy League Tournament on Friday night.
 
IVY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS — Penn (7-3-5, 4-1-2 Ivy League) vs. Brown (5-4-7, 2-0-5 Ivy League)
Friday, Nov. 10 | 6:30 p.m. | Penn Park
Watch on EPSN+ ($) | Live Stats | Program (PDF)
 
Penn Men's Soccer on ESPN+
 A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN, and you will be able to find all Penn home matches, as well as road Ivy matches and select non-conference road matches, on ESPN+ this fall with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages.
 Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Brown Series 
The last time these two programs met was in mid-October when the match resulted in a 0-0 draw. However, the Quakers beat the Bears last season in a 1-0 victory with a strike from Stas Korzeniowski late in the first half. The Red and Blue hold a home record of 17-12-6 against the Bears, winning the last three games at home since 2016. 
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn secured homefield advantage in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament after topping Princeton 4-1 last weekend on Senior Day. Four different Quakers scored in teh victory, with goals coming from Hewes, Mateo Zazueta, Brandon Curran, and Oliver Pratt.
 
*The Quakers earned six postseason honors announced by the Ivy League on Wednesday afternoon. Leo Burney, Nick Christoffersen, and Michael Hewes grabbed spots on the All-Ivy first team and are joined by Korzeniowski on the All-Ivy second team, while Ben Do landed the All-Ivy honorable mention. Christoffersen also earned Penn's spot on the All-Ivy Academic team for his performance in the classroom. James C. Gentle head coach Brian Gill earned Ivy League Coach of the Year for the second straight season to complete Penn's postseason reign.
 
*Senior Hewes scored his eighth goal of the season with a penalty kick against Princeton last weekend, ending the regular season third in the Ivy League in goals. Hewes leads Penn in goals (8) and points (18). The midfielder is the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, a title he has won twice during the season.
 
*Korzeniowski leads the Red and Blue and Ivy League in assists, dishing out seven goals to his teammates. 
 
*Sophomore Pratt scored his first collegiate goal against the Tigers last weekend. Pratt is the third Quaker to score their first collegiate goal this season, with senior Michael teDuits and sophomore Gavin Seele also hitting the milestone.
 
*Goalkeeper Christoffersen started in net in all 15 games this season, playing the full 90 minutes in every match. The Toronto native leads the conference in shutouts with seven. The senior made 43 saves on the season, holding a 0.67 goals-against-average and 0.811 save percentage heading into the playoffs.
 
*Two-time Coach of the Year, Gill, led the Red and Blue to their fifth straight season at .500 or better after Penn tallied a 7-3-5 record this season. The Quakers knocked off No. 14 Penn State on the road for the first time in program history to highlight non-conference play. Penn went 4-1-2 in Ivy play this year, grabbing wins over Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton, with the victories over the Big Red and Lions being shutouts.
 
*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 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.

*Hewes was Penn's third-leading scorer last season, netting six goals, while junior Brandon 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 Gill 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