Quakers found themselves in a difficult situation last weekend having to face two league opponents with a short bench due to illness and injury. The team was able to defeat their crosstown neighbors in the Drexel Dragons on Friday night 5-1 and fell to Seton Hall on the road 4-3 Saturday evening.
It’s that time of year where teams have issues with illness and injury and that was no different for the Quakers last weekend. Friday against the Dragons the team only dressed twelve skaters in a situation no coach wants to be in against a league opponent. Missing key players contributors Spencer Touhy and Calvin Aliverov for a league game certainly wasn’t what Coach Artosky wanted to see for a league game especially against his alma mater. When asked Coach Artosky said that it wasn’t an ideal situation to be in, but he was confident in the players he had in the locker room and that we will leave everything we have on the ice guaranteed. The team matched that sentiment coming out of the locker room came out of the gate fast as tends to be the norm with this Quakers team. Senior Ethan Abraham wasted no time and put one past Drexel goalie Richman ninety seconds into the period putting the Quakers up early. With a light bench the coaching staff got a bit creative moving players around into different positions then they normally would play. This move provided one player an opportunity to step up to the plate when called upon. Sophomore Mark Tarazi was called up from the blueline to play forward against the Dragons in a move paid dividends. Tarazi found the back of net eight minutes into period scoring his first goal of his college career with help from his linemate Abraham moving the lead to two. That would end the scoring for either team in the first, giving the Quakers a 2-0 lead after one.
The second and third periods were more of the same for the Quakers. Scoring two more goals in the second thanks to efforts from Freshman Chris Bugliosi and another goal from Tarazi the team had a 4-0 lead going into the third period and full control of the game. The Dragons finally did manage to get on the board in the third with a power play goal but that was quickly answered with another goal from Bugliosi making the score 5-1 which resulted in the last of the scoring and a Quakers victory. The highlight of the evening was the stellar defense and goaltending by Jack Averill limiting the Dragons to one goal and doing so with only twelve skaters. Mark Tarazi was voted MVP of the evening with his two goal performance and excellent job up front in the victory.
Saturday night the Quakers made their way up to West Orange, NJ to face Seton Hall for the second time this season and the injury bug did not improve. The team once again only had twelve skaters for the game swapping Senior Spencer Touhy for Ethan Abraham who was injured in the Drexel game the night before. Seton Hall came out and took advantage of the Quakers early using the travel to their advantage scoring two goals in the first putting them up 2-0 at the conclusion of the period. Regrouping in-between periods and coming out strong the team was able to score early in the second period with a goal from Junior Axel D’Amelio cutting the deficit one and grabbing the momentum. The Quakers absolutely peppered Seton Hall netminder Salvador putting twenty six shots on goal in the period but were unable to get more than the one goal against him. The Pirates managed to score two quick goals at the end of period to increase their lead to three goals leaving the Quakers in a tough spot moving into the third. The Quakers didn’t roll over and die in the third period, once again owning the period putting another twenty shots on goal and controlling the puck in the Pirates zone most of the period. D’Amelio found the net once again halfway through the period cutting the lead to two. Continuing to fight the uphill battle with the clock the Quakers found the net once again with a clutch goal from Zach Qian after pulling the goalie cutting the lead to only one with two minutes to play. Unfortunately for the Quakers the push stopped there resulting in a 4-3 loss for the team on the road moving the team to 7-3 on the season. Penn managed to put 55 shots on goal in the loss truly showing the grit of this team with only twelve skaters on the road. Assistant Coach Justin Canney was quoted saying that sometimes you just don’t get any bounces there isn’t much you can do about it but regroup and fight another day.
The Quakers have another jam-packed weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday, facing Scranton at home on Friday at the Class of 1923 Arena and then welcoming in a non-league opponent Georgetown Sunday afternoon to round out the weekend at home. Both games will be livestreamed thanks to our partnership with SFBN, links to both games can be found below. Come out and support the team as they look to pick up two more victories before the break! #GoQuakers!
Scranton: Scranton@Penn
Georgetown: Georgetown@Penn
You can rewatch the Quakers victory over the Dragons HERE!