Penn Men's Soccer Upsets #20 Brown 1-0

Sunday, November 1

1 pm

Brown University

Penn

11/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

University of Pennsylvania's Loukas Tasigianis scored the lone goal of the game just 14 minutes into the first half to earn a 1-0 upset over the No. 20 Brown men's soccer team this afternoon at Stevenson Field. The Bears dropped to 8-2-5 on the year and are currently 3-2 in Ivy League play, while Penn moves to 6-6-3 overall while improving to 2-2-1 in the league.

The Quakers put the pressure on the Bears right from the start as Penn's Aaron Ross headed the ball to record the first shot of the game at the 1:20 mark, but Brown's goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand (Orono, MN) made the save.

Penn continued with another header that missed wide at 7:21, and then found the back of the net at the 14:46 mark to take a 1-0 lead. Penn's Tasigianis blasted one to the low right corner of the net, after passes from Ross and Michael Kozak.

The Bears had some solid looks on goal in the first half as well, but Penn's defense shut down the Bears as goalkeeper Garon Smith recorded three saves in net. Evan Coleman (Amherst, MA), and Austin Mandel (Tarzana, CA) had great looks at the goal at the 23 and 24-minute marks, respectively, but both were blocked by the stingy Penn defense. Captain David Walls (Leeds, England) followed up with a shot at the 32:50 mark, but Smith made the save to keep the Bears off the scoreboard. Despite Brown's 10-9 lead in shots and a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks, Penn held the 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

The Bears dominated the Quakers in the second period, out-shooting the Quakers 14-3. But Penn's defense wouldn't crack, as the Quaker defense continued to shut down a usually potent Brown attack. Brown tallied a plethora of shots in the final 45 minutes of play, but Penn was still able to escape with the 1-0 upset over the Bears.

Mandel led the Bears in shots with five, followed by Walls and Thomas McNamara (West Nyack, NJ) with four apiece. Grandstrand (7-2-5) picked up two saves in net this afternoon, while Smith (2-2-0) ended the day with six.

The Bears will now travel to New Haven to take on the Yale Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, and will then host Dartmouth at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15.