The men’s soccer team faced the Penn Quakers Saturday at home in a matchup of two teams tied for fourth in the Ivy League standings. Going into the game, Brown (8-4-2, 2-2-1 Ivy) had not secured a conference win in three weeks. But the Bears’ clutch scoring lifted them to a 2-1 overtime victory against the Quakers (3-11-1, 1-3-1). Nico Lozada ’18 scored the game-winning goal to move zBruno into a second place tie in the Ivy League with Columbia and Cornell.
“It was more of a fight than pretty soccer,” Lozada said. “I would say that it was our work ethic that trumped them.”
The Quakers started the game fast, as Sam Wancowicz managed to launch a shot from the top right corner of the 18-yard box in the fifth minute, forcing a dive from goalkeeper Joey Cipicchio ’18. The powerful shot appeared on target, but turned wide of the net at the last second. The Bears had a promising opportunity in the 14th minute when Gabe Welp ’18.5 corralled a corner kick mere feet from the goal, but a Penn defender managed to take control and direct the ball out of bounds.
In the 25th minute, Toby Howell ’19 was able to find the ball behind the defense in the 18-yard box, but he was unable to get a shot off as the Penn defense held strong and cleared the ball.
Quinn English ’18 managed to break the ice to give the Bears a 1-0 lead with only 8.8 seconds left in the first half for his third goal of the season. English rocketed a low shot from about 20 yards outside of the goal that managed to sneak past Penn goalkeeper Scott Forbes and shock a Quaker team that looked ready for halftime.
The first half was marked by strong teamwork on the defensive end, limiting accurate midfield passing and scoring opportunities. At the half, the Bears held a one-goal advantage and led the Quakers 3-2 in shots and 4-1 in corner kicks. Bruno did not commit a first half foul, while the Quakers were called for nine.
The start of the second half was quiet, as neither team created an opportunity with a realistic chance to score. In the 67th minute, Bruno launched a free kick into the 18-yard box and hoped for a header. Forbes was forced to come out of his box and sky above everyone to punch the ball away.
In the 69th minute, the Quakers managed to respond on a counterattack and tie the game at one. Wancowicz scored an almost identical goal to English’s from the top right side of the 18-yard box on an assist from Brandon Bartel.
Lozada nearly gave the Bears the lead in the 78th minute on a wide-open header that was misdirected out of bounds. With only four minutes left in the game, the Bears had two opportunities that required Forbes to make diving saves on shots that would have been game-winning goals. At the end of regulation, Brown led in 7-6 shots and 6-1 in corners.
In the second minute of overtime, the Bears believed they had won the game on a shot by Howell that found the back of the net, but the goal was called back for offsides. Penn almost scored on a counterattack moments later, but the cross into the 18-yard box was slightly off target.
With just 34 seconds left in the first period of overtime, English placed a cross into the middle of the 18-yard box directly in front of Lozada, who launched a precise shot into the top right corner of the net to win the game for the Bears. Bruno finished the game leading 10-9 in shots and 8-1 in corner kicks.
“(Scoring the game-winner) feels amazing,” Lozada said. “Last year we got beaten in overtime and it felt good to give them one back.”
Brown will return to the pitch on Tuesday at Hofstra before continuing Ivy League play on Saturday at Yale. The Bears will need to win both of their remaining Ivy League games, including against first-place Dartmouth in the final week of the season, to remain in contention for the conference title.
