M. Soccer Seeks Revenge Against Penn

The Harvard men's soccer team will be out for blood tomorrow against Pennsylvania at Ohiri Field as it seeks to avenge a loss last year which knocked Harvard out of the Ivy League race.

Understanding last year's scenario goes a long way towards understanding this year. Last year, the Crimson (5-4-1 overall, 2-1-1 Ivy) came into the match-up still reeling from its first Ivy loss, a 3-1 decision to Princeton which knocked it out of first place in the Ivy standings.

Two days later, Harvard fell to the Quakers, 3-2, and dropped out of contention for the Ivy League title. It was Penn's only Ivy win and started a three-game slide for Harvard.

"Penn is a team that we're really looking forward to playing," junior midfielder Bo Bernhard said. "They took the wind out of our sails with that loss. It was a team we really should've beaten--they were the last team in the Ivy League last year--so Coach [Stephen] Locker really stressed the element of revenge for tomorrow's game."

The Crimson face a similar situation this year against the Quakers. Harvard (1-5-1 overall, 0-1-1 Ivy) is coming off a 3-0 loss at the hands of 24th-ranked Boston University Wednesday, but a win against Penn would get them back to .500 and could move them into fourth place in the Ancient Eight. Penn (0-2 Ivy) is seeking a repeat of last year's performance.

"With any team that beats you the year before you want to get some retribution, but right now we just need a win so we'll be fired up for any team we play," sophomore goalie Ned Carlson said. "We need a win and we're just looking at it that way."

Winless since their first game, the Crimson is trying to end a six-game skid, but with three shutouts during that stretch, the team is looking to its offense to help turn things around.

"We need to score some goals," junior forward Derek Swaim said. "It's been a long time since we've scored the first goal in a game. We had our chances in the first half [against BU], and if we'd put them away it really would have helped our cause. We need to take the pressure off our defense and help our defensive organization.

"If the offense does what it's supposed to do, it should allow our defense to be better organized," he added.

The Quakers' attack is led by senior forward Kossouth Bradford, who is tied for fifth in overall scoring with three goals and three assists in six games for the Quakers.

The Crimson attack is led by freshmen midfielders Kevin Silva and Rookie of the Week T.J. Carella. Silva has notched three goals to date.