PHILADELPHIA – The nationally ranked University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team continued its hot start to Ivy League play, shutting down Brown 2-0 at Rhodes Field on Saturday night.
Senior
Stas Korzeniowski tallied his second brace of the year to push #18 Penn to an undefeated Ivy League record of 3-0.
Quaker Notemeal
*Forward Korzeniowski tallied a Quaker-high five shots, with both shots on goal hitting the back of the net.
*On the defensive end of the field, goalkeeper
Phillip Falcon III stopped all four of Brown's shots, including a penalty kick late in the battle to post his seventh shutout of the season.
*The backend held strong in the match, as defenders
Leo Burney,
Connor Dawson, and
Oliver Pratt played the full 90 minutes.
*The Red and Blue's offense was fierce, outshooting Brown 14-8.
How It Happened
Both teams opened the match with scoring chances as
Patrick Cayelli slammed one in the second minute, which went wide, followed by a shot from the Bears that was blocked. Three minutes later, Erickson Sakalosy attempted a blocked shot, then defender Pratt tallied one off a corner kick that was saved by goalkeeper Max Pfaffman.
The chances kept coming in the ninth minute as senior Korzeniowski rushed down the field, sneaking his eighth goal of the year past Pfaffman to push Penn ahead 1-0 early.
Korzeniowski kept up his pace in the 12th minute, trying to double the lead, but his shot was blocked by Brown's defense to keep the deficit at one early. Both defenses held up strong for the next 14 minutes until junior Cayelli shot one off a free kick that was blocked, then headed in by Korzeniowski to extend the lead 2-0 with less than 20 minutes left of the first half.
Sophomore Falcon made his first save of the day in the 43rd minute, saving a shot right in the middle of his crease from Brown's Mike Balleani to hold the game at two.
Romeo Dahlen closed out the first with a shot in the 44th minute that was ultimately off-target.
The Bears opened the second with some fire as Mike Balleani attempted one that went high. The Quakers didn't get their first shot till the 52nd minute when
Jack Wagoner shot one that went wide.
Four minutes later, freshman Dahlen tallied back-to-back shots that were both blocked by the Bears' defense to hold the score at 2-0. A minute after Dahlen's shots, Mads Stistrup Petersen got a good look at the ball slamming it at Falcon, but the Tampa native held strong to make the save.
With regulation winding down, both teams upped the intensity as Korzeniowski almost scored a hat trick in the 83rd minute off a corner, but his shot was misdirected to the left in the final second. Brown's last offense chance of the night came from a penalty on junior Pratt in the 85th minute, but keeper Falcon pushed the shot away to keep the Bears off the board and the match at 2-0.
Up Next
The Quakers (9-1-1, 3-0 Ivy League) close out non-conference action on Tuesday, Oct. 15, heading to Monmouth for a 7 p.m. battle.
