PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's soccer team hosted BIG EAST foe Seton Hall on Saturday night at Rhodes Field, resulting in a narrow 2-1 victory for the Red and Blue.
The Pirates broke the deadlock in the 21st minute, but the Quakers kept themselves in the match and scored twice in the span of two minutes to snatch a late victory over the Pirates. Junior forward
Marco Bottene scored both of the hosts' goals.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn dominated the majority of play, but the visitors proved to be a constant threat in transition.
*Bottene found the back of the net in the 81st minute courtesy of an assist from
Owen Sullivan and went on to score the match winner in the 83rd minute with a clinical finish in the penalty area assisted by
Michael Howard.
*Four Quakers—
Phillip Falcon III,
Connor Dawson,
Malachi Neal, and
Joaquin Niehenke—played the full 90 minutes of the match and were key contributors in the hosts' defensive third of the pitch.
*Falcon III was called into action three times during his third start of the season.
*Howard and Sullivan were lively on the wing for the hosts, picking up their first points of the season with assists to Bottene.
*The Red and blue outshot the Pirates 14-7, with six finding the frame compared to the visitors' four.
How It Happened
The hosts began the match on the front foot and dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes. A few half chances led to set-piece opportunities for Penn, but nothing troubled Devin Armstrong between the pipes early on.
Senior captain
Jack-Ryan Jeremiah saw the ball fall kindly to himself just outside the box in the sixth minute, but his effort towards goal flew over the crossbar.
The Quakers best chance of the first half came in the 12th minute. Junior forward
Romeo Dahlen did well to win the ball back near midfield for the hosts before he picked his head up to drive forward. Bottene was already on the move, making a darting run towards Armstrong's goal. The Hermosa Beach, Calif. native received the ball in stride and released a shot from 20 yards out, but the move ended when his effort trickled wide.
Seton Hall opened the scoring in the 21st minute after quality combination play in midfield. Joaquin Brizuela received the ball on the half turn and played a pass to Nico Rubio, releasing him down the sideline. Rubio quickly set himself and whipped a cross into the box that found the head of Timothy Valentine who headed home to grant the visitors an early lead in University City.
Both sides had their fair share of half chances as the first half wore on, but after 45 minutes at Rhodes Field Seton Hall maintained its 1-0 lead.
Following a physical end to the first half, the matches' intensity only rose in the final 45 minutes. Neither side found an edge in the first chunk of play, but Penn did well to earn free kicks in dangerous areas of the pitch.
The hosts earned a corner in the 71st minute and Niehenke was set to deliver. His in-swinging service found the head of a towering Dawson, but the senior's header drifted just wide of Armstrong's goal.
With time ticking away and a positive result looking unlikely, the Red and Blue equalized in style in the 81st minute. Sullivan had the ball on the right flank and immediately thought to drive forward. The midfielder did well to skip past a few Pirates before he spotted Bottene lurking across the visitors' backline. Sullivan played a chipped ball over the top to an ensuing Bottene who only needed two touches to settle himself and poke the ball past Armstrong to knot the contest at one goal apiece.
Two minutes later, the Quakers completed the comeback to notch their second win of the campaign. Penn was in transition before the ball was worked out wide to Howard. The Apex, N.C. native elected to serve an early ball into the box, but a Pirate did well to put an initial stop to the chance. However, his defensive intervention saw the ball fall to Bottene just outside the box and he did not waste his opportunity. The junior's right-footed blast soared towards the roof of the goal and took a touch off of Armstrong's glove before rippling the net.
The Quaker crowd erupted in jubilation and the hosts hung on in the final minutes to claim a quality comeback win.
Up Next
Penn (2-1, 0-0 Ivy League) returns to action at 6 p.m. on Tuesday as Delaware makes a trip to battle the Red and Blue in University City.
#FightOnPenn
