Men's Soccer Drops 3-0 Decision to Pennsylvania in Opening Round of Penn Soccer Classic

Philadelphia, Pa. - Thomas Brandt scored his first goal of the season in the 12th minute and Alex Takakuwa and Tobi Olopade added insurance tallies in the second half to lead Pennsylvania to a 3-0 victory over the UAlbany men's soccer team in the first round of the Penn Soccer Classic on Friday, Sept. 18 at Rhodes Field. The Great Danes were playing their third straight match against a reigning conference champion.

Penn (2-1-2) got on the scoreboard early courtesy of Brandt. Chrisitan Barreiro served a corner which Olopade headed right at UAlbany goalkeeper Adrian Foncette. The sophomore made the tough save, but the ball fell right to the foot of Brandt who put it away. The Great Danes had their chances and attempted four shots before the break, including one on net by Anthony DeSalvo, but they could not net the equalizer.

The Quakers used a balanced attack in the second half and got two more goals from different players beginning when Takakuwa took advantage of a one-on-one breakaway against Foncette in the 64th minute. Foncette made the point-blank save on the initial shot, but Takakuwa took his own rebound and finished on the open net to put Penn up by a 2-0 score. Olopade sealed the outcome in the 88th minute when he took passes from Bryan Yasukochi and Jason Gorskie and unleashed a shot that landed in the back of the net.

UAlbany's Foncette, who set a Division I program record with 16 saves in last week's loss to Colgate, turned away four of the 21 shots he faced and was credited with the loss. Penn's Ben Berg made one save on four opportunities and picked up the shutout victory.

UAlbany (0-5-1) will wrap up play at the Penn Soccer Classic when it travels to Temple on Sunday, Sept. 20 for a 1 p.m. match.

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information