Former Quaker Matt Poplawski returned to University City as an assistant coach in the Fall of 2021 after graduating from the program in 2017.
2024 was a historic season for Penn, as the coaches earned Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year and USC 2024 DI Men’s Northeast Region Staff of the Year, guiding the Quakers to a historic 13-2-1 overall record, perfect Ivy League season and numerous weeks in the Top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches (USC) poll. Penn's perfect 7-0-0 Ivy League season is the 14th in Ivy history, the fifth this century, the first since 2021, and the first for the Quakers since 1971. The Quakers knocked off #3 Pitt (1-0), #21 Hofstra (3-1), and #16 Cornell (3-2) to account for the ranked victories this year. Stas Korzeniowski and Leo Burney earned Ivy League Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Jack-Ryan Jeremiah was named First Team All-Ivy, while Patrick Cayelli, Brandon Curran, Connor Dawson, Ben D0, Phillip Falcon III, and Aaron Messer were all additional All-Ivy selections.
2023 was another stellar season for the men’s soccer program. Gill was named Ivy League Coach of the Year after leading Penn to its first second-straight regular season title and the first overall seed in the inaugural Ivy League Men’s Soccer Tournament, guiding the Quakers to a 7-3-6 record (4-1-2 in conference play). Those four conference wins included victories over Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton. Penn picked up a historic victory on the road, topping #14 Penn State 3-0 in Happy Valley for the first time in program history, propelled by a hat trick from Michael Hewes. Leo Burney was named All-Region First Team and Nick Christoffersen, Hewes, and Stas Korzeniowski Second Team selections, respectively, while Ben Do was an additional All-Ivy selection.
2022 was a standout season for the men’s soccer program. Gill was named the unanimous Ivy League Coach of the Year after leading Penn to its first conference title since 2013, guiding the Quakers to a 13-3-2 record (6-1-0 in conference play), and numerous weeks in the Top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches (USC) poll. Those six conference wins included the program’s first wins over Columbia and Princeton since 2011 and 2013, respectively. Stas Korzeniowski and Leo Burney were both named USC second-team All-America, in addition to earning Ivy League Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards, the first sophomores to earn major award recognition from the Ivies since 1993. Ben Stitz and Isaac McGinnis were All-Region second and third-team selections, respectively, while Nick Christoffersen, Jack Rosener, and Ben Do were all additional All-Ivy selections.
Following a CoVID-cancelled 2020 campaign, the Quakers' 2021 season ended with a 7-6-3 overall record, the program’s third straight season at .500 or better, the first such stretch for the program in more than a decade. Those seven victories included three straight, 2-1 comeback wins at Rhodes Field against Drexel, Dartmouth, and Temple, respectively. Four Quakers earned year-end All-Ivy honors, including freshman First-team defender Leo Burney and Second-team senior midfielders Ben Stitz and Isaac McGinnis. Additionally, Burney was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Northeast Region Third Team, the College Soccer News All-Freshman Second Team, and the Philly Soccer Six Freshman of the Year.
A two-time captain for the Quakers, Poplawski had a successful playing career with Penn, totaling six goals and five assists for 17 points while capping off his time in the red and blue with a first-team All-Ivy recognition and ECAC All-Star nod. Over the course of four seasons, he started in 47 of the 57 games played in. Additionally, his first two years at Penn, he walked on to the men's basketball team. In his sophomore year, he played in 17 games with three starts in Ivy League play, registering 23 points and five assists.
Following graduation, Poplawski went right into coaching Division I soccer, moving down to North Carolina to work with Wake Forest as a volunteer assistant. Assisting in all the daily operations, he was a part of teams that won the ACC regular-season title in 2018 and the ACC tournament in 2017. Securing two NCAA tournament berths in 2017 and 2018, the Demon Deacons entered both tournaments as the overall No. 1 seed and advancing as far as the quarterfinals. He was a part of a coaching staff that was named the 2017 United Soccer Coaches South Region Coaching Staff of the Year, while the program had five players drafted to the MLS over two seasons.
After a two-year stint with Wake Forest, he headed further south for an assistant coaching position with South Florida in Tampa. During his tenure with the Bulls, the team secured an NCAA tournament berth in 2019 for the first time in three seasons, finishing the year with an 11-7-1 overall record. That season, two seniors signed professional contracts in the USL. In the most recent MLS SuperDraft, two players were picked up, while another player singed a professional contract in USL League One.
Poplawski currently has his U.S. Soccer "C" coaching license.
