Taking it to the Quakers..

The forecast looked gloomy as we all sat in the high-rise hotel, looking down on the city of Philadelphia. We were waiting to go and eat our exotic, authentic Italian meal prepared by Olive Garden.  Penn was going to be a good team, but we were prepared. We had taken care of our bodies and been scraped hard by Manny. We had taken ice baths and not contracted MRSA. We had conquered the pride runs.  And we had read the scouts, which helped.

Our warm up was sharp and intense; the ball was going to skip on the slick surface and it was an ideal night for two-footed tackles.  As the starting whistle blew, the Bears looked to knock the oatmeal right out of the Quakers.  We were immediatley put under pressure; against the wind, and under constant threat from Duke LaCroix, a premier physical specimen and superb athlete, and their CAM, Clancy, who was sporting a small pony tail (likely taken from an actual pony).

We were down 1-0 after a very questionable penalty decision by a referee that appeared to have at least one glass eye.  LaCroix slotted home about midway through the first half.  Freshman and notably talented piccolo musician Gabe Welp went down hard after narrowly heading over a corner kick. He appeared to have completely lost his arm, but it turned out that he suffered a minor injury.  

 We had the confidence we needed to take the game to Penn, and we did just that by forcing them back into their end and snatching a goal off a corner.  Jack Gorab put in a great ball which was attacked seductively by the dashing Will Cross to level the score.  

After a stirring halftime speech by Coach Laughlin, we came out on fire and ready to take the game to them, this time with the wind. We had countless opportunities to win the game in regulation but in the end we were unable to finish.  The final whistle blew and then came overtime.  

These overtime periods, unlike the ones we had earlier in the season, were filled with opportunities.  Tariq Akelle (Aqueel, Akle?), Will Cross, Nico Lozada and Eric Sugarman all came close to sealing the W for the Bears, but the game ended in a draw. Penn, distraught with being knocked out of contention for the championship, had a group crying session on the field after the whistle.  We were pleased to get a point on the road, and maybe a little disappointed to not get anything more.  Yale looks to be a challenging team, so let's see what comes next.  

Yours truly, 

James "Rodriguez" My-all