Penn, Drexel ousted in men's soccer

The Penn soccer team trudged across Rhodes Field to acknowledge its supporters a final time Thursday night. Goalie Max Polkinhorne walked behind the pack, his hands cupped behind his head.

If it hadn't been for Polkinhorne, the Quakers would have been making that trek much earlier in the evening.

Penn fell to visiting Providence, 3-1, in a penalty-kick shootout that determined who advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The game ended as a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes.

Polkinhorne made 10 saves in regulation and overtime as the Quakers (8-8-2) were outshot by more than 2-1. Three times in the first overtime he left his feet to make game-saving stops.

Polkinhorne made a diving save to his right on the first penalty kick, but the next three Friars scored.

"A penalty kick shootout is kind of left to chance, so I wasn't counting our chickens yet after making one save," Polkinhorne said. "I had a feel for where they were going . . . but they made some good PKs."

A sophomore transfer from Santa Clara, Polkinhorne was 4-0 splitting time as Penn's starter. Since allowing a goal to Drexel on Oct. 2, he had gone more than 224 minutes without allowing a goal.

"He's really responsible in getting us to this point in these last few games," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "We had all the confidence in the world in his ability."

Freshman Alec Neumann gave Penn a 1-0 lead on a counterattacking goal in the 10th minute. Providence tied it in the 23d as Wilder Arboleda finished a scramble in the box.

Penn, the Ivy champ, was making its 10th appearance in the NCAA tournament and first since 2010.

Providence (12-5-4) reached the Big East final and was one of five teams from the conference to receive a tournament bid.

Dragons dropped. Drexel's season also came to an end in the first round of the tournament with a 5-1 loss to Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va.

Drexel saw Old Dominion (11-5-1) take a lead in the fourth minute and add two scores before the game was 17 minutes old. Jared Girard scored for the Dragons, his third goal of the season.

Drexel ends its season 9-8-4.