Men’s Soccer Drops Ivy Opener Against Penn

A determined offensive effort in the second half wasn’t enough for men’s soccer, as the team fell 3-2 to Penn Saturday, in the teams’ Ivy League opener.

Despite a winless start to the season, the Light Blue was able to pick up two wins in its final nonconference games, and headed into Saturday’s match with momentum on its side. Columbia’s last series of games against Penn had resulted in two straight 1-0 overtime losses. But this would not be a contest of defenses, as the offenses for both teams were active from the first blow of the whistle. Fleet midfielder Alex Grendi sliced into the Columbia defense for Penn, as the Quakers launched a barrage of 11 shots on the Columbia goal in the first half. Columbia answered with long balls to freshman forward Bayo Adafin, who would reward his teammates in the 30th minute, when he chipped a shot past Penn goalkeeper Drew Healy for the lead. Columbia goalie Michael Testa held down the fort on the Light Blue side for the rest of the half, and the teams entered the locker room with the home team up by one.

Penn would not relent in its attack on the Lions goal in the second stanza, and its efforts finally paid off in the 51st minute. Grendi, down in the Columbia third the entire night, fired a rocket from twenty yards out, finding the back of the net and knotting the score at 1-1. The Columbia defense, which was loose for much of the night, ran into trouble again in the 65th and 70th minutes, when Quaker forward Mike Klein netted a pair of scores off feeds from teammates Andrew Ferry and Derek Hobson.

Columbia did not fold in the face of the two-goal deficit, and the Lions halved the Penn lead a little more than a minute later. Adafin, terrific all game, found senior defender Tom Heinbockel in the box, and Heinbockel beat Healy with a shot up and away for the score. It appeared that Columbia had tied the game in the 82nd minute, when senior forward Tom Davison back-heeled a Steven Keker feed into the Penn goal. But the goal was called back due to an offside call, and the Quaker defense held on in the final eight minutes for the victory.

Columbia fell to 2-6-1 on the season. The Lions will be back in action against the Princeton Tigers next Saturday.