\n Story Links
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA \u2013\u00a0The University of Pennsylvania men’s soccer team returns to action Monday night at 7 p.m. as they make a trip out west to battle Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe Pittsburgh at Ambrose Urbanic Field. *Two underclassmen\u2014Adam Ambrus-Aikelin<\/a> and Mario Stoka<\/a>\u2014were responsible for Penn’s third and fourth goals against the Hawks, which were their first in Red and Blue. Ambrus-Aikelin restored a two-goal advantage with a clinical finish in the 40th minute and Stoka capped off the victory in the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n *Joaquin Niehenke<\/a> supplied two assists vs. Monmouth, which is tied for first among his Ancient Eight foes. Romeo Dahlen<\/a>, Beckett Empson-Speiden and Wyatt Bonos<\/a> also picked up assists in the victory.<\/p>\n *Phillip Falcon III<\/a> made the 33rd start of his career in goal last time out and made two saves through 77 minutes. The Tampa, Fla. native will be looking to post his first shutout of the season Monday night against the Panthers.<\/p>\n *The Red and Blue earned the third-place spot in the Ivy League men’s soccer preseason poll, securing 94 points. Reigning Ivy League Tournament champions Princeton were picked to finish first with 123 points and 14 first-place votes, followed by Cornell with 111 points and two first-place votes. Harvard rounded out the top four spots with 79 points. #FightOnPenn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Story Links
PHILADELPHIA \u2013\u00a0The University of Pennsylvania men’s soccer team returns to action Monday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-280444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Red and Blue began the 2026 season with a comfortable victory over Monmouth (9\/1), defeating the Hawks 4-1. Penn’s home opener had to be suspended after 77 minutes of play due to lightning in the Philadelphia area.
\n\u00a0
\nPenn (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) at Pittsburgh (2-1-1, 0-0 ACC)
\nMonday, Sept. 7 | 7\u00a0p.m.
\nPittsburgh, Pa. | Ambrose Urbanic Field
\nWatch on ACCNX<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Live Stats<\/a>
\n\u00a0
\nThe Penn vs. Pittsburgh Series
\n*Monday’s matchup will be just the second all-time meeting between both programs.
\n\u00a0
\n*The Quakers and Panthers first met during the 2024 campaign, when Pitt came to University City. The hosts walked away with a 1-0 victory to begin the season, thanks to a goal from Jack Wagoner<\/a> ’26 in the 41st minute.
\n\u00a0
\nQuaker Notemeal
\n*Marco Bottene<\/a> got off to a hot start in the Red and Blue’s first match of the season. The Hermosa Beach, Calif. native scored a first-half brace in just 17 minutes and was a constant threat throughout his 41-minute performance. He is already up to four points on the season, six shy of his 2025 tally.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0
\n*Penn returns a wealth of experience to the pitch for the 2026 season, including All-Ivy honorees\u00a0Jack-Ryan Jeremiah<\/a>,\u00a0Connor Dawson<\/a>,\u00a0Romeo Dahlen<\/a>, and\u00a0Phillip Falcon III<\/a>, along with upperclassmen\u00a0Malachi Neal<\/a>,\u00a0Marco Bottene<\/a>,\u00a0Owen Sullivan<\/a>,\u00a0Joaquin Niehenke<\/a>, and\u00a0George Herbert<\/a>. Jeremiah, Dawson, Niehenke, and Sullivan were named team captains ahead of the program’s season opener.
\n\u00a0
\n*Dawson was recently recognized by the United Soccer Coaches (USC) after his selection to the organizations Defenders to Watch List. The O’Fallon, Ill. native paced the Quakers in 2025 with 1,519 minutes played in 17 starts, which included 15 90-minute performances. He was the anchor of a backline that conceded just 12 goals and posted nine shutouts throughout the season. In addition to his defensive quality, Dawson also provided assists in draws against Drexel (9\/16) and Columbia (9\/28).
\n\u00a0
\n*Nine freshmen were added to the program during the offseason and are eager to make an early impact in Red and Blue. The newcomers are\u00a0Wyatt Bonos<\/a>,\u00a0Leo Doyle<\/a>,\u00a0Ethan Kim<\/a>,\u00a0Landry Moncrief<\/a>,\u00a0Jasper Moorhead<\/a>,\u00a0Ian Paola<\/a>,\u00a0Mario Stoka<\/a>,\u00a0Isaac Tortola<\/a>, and\u00a0Hayes Weller<\/a>.
\n\u00a0
\n*Two starters from the 2025 campaign began their professional careers in the offseason, after Austin FC drafted\u00a0Patrick Cayelli<\/a>\u00a0with the 77th pick in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft, and\u00a0Oliver Pratt<\/a>\u00a0signed a contract with the Philadelphia Union II.
\n\u00a0
\nScouting the Panthers
\n*Through four matches this season, Pittsburgh boasts a 2-1-1 record heading into its Monday matchup with Penn. The hosts began their 2026 campaign with a 2-1 defeat to then No. 7 Maryland (8\/20), but quickly bounced back against Bucknell (8\/24), taking down the Bison 3-1. Most recently, the Panthers earned a 2-1 win on the road at Penn State (8\/28) and drew with No. 8 Michigan State, 0-0.
\n\u00a0
\n*Head coach Jay Vidovich has seen six different goalscorers find the back of the net through the team’s opening four matches. Despite the even distribution of goal scoring throughout the squad, Grayson Carter paces the Panthers in points (3) after tallying a goal and an assist in the win over Bucknell.
\n\u00a0
\n*In the ACC preseason poll, Pitt was picked to finish 11th among the conference’s 15 members, and junior defender Niklas S\u00f8rensen earned a spot on the preseason watch list. S\u00f8rensen was also selected to TopDrawerSoccer’s Preseason Top 100 List along with midfielder Caden Grabfelder.
\n\u00a0
\n*Senior goalkeeper Jack Moxom has started in all four matches for the Panthers and boasts a 1.00 goal-against average. He’s up to nine saves on the season and holds a .692 save percentage which ranks eighth in the ACC.
\n\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n