The weather hindered the men’s soccer team’s quest to improve upon a season record of 4–7–3, 1–3 Ivy.

After facing unforgiving rain Saturday night at Penn, the Yale men’s soccer team fell to the Quakers (5–6–3, 1–2–1 Ivy) in a 1–0 loss.

“The conditions were challenging, but I think defensively it took us a while to settle down and get used to the conditions,” head coach Brian Tompkins said. “Also, we had a difficult time with Penn’s pace and mobility in the second half.”

The game was scoreless until late in the second half, when Penn’s Travis Cantrell drove the ball past goalkeeper Travis Chulick ’10 at 67:46. Yale defenders successfully blocked an initial shot off a Penn corner kick. Cantrell, however, remained open to put away the follow-up close-range shot, which just managed to pass a pair of Yale defenders standing on the goal line.

“There was a little bit of a scramble in the box,” Chulick said. “They were able to get on the end of the ball and sneak one by.”

Tompkins added,“We didn’t execute our clearing as well as we should have off of that corner.”

With the game three-quarters over, the Bulldogs fought to get on the board but never responded to the Quakers’ winning goal.

“I think in the last 15 minutes or so we created our best chances of the game,” Tompkins said. “Unfortunately, our best chances came after we were down a goal and we were trying to tie.”

Penn outshot Yale in both the first and the second half — during the first half, Yale put up only two shots on goal compared to Penn’s six, while in the second half Yale had five shots on goal to the Quakers’ six.

Penn’s scoreless first half was largely due to Chulick’s goalkeeping. Chulick had three saves throughout the night, while Penn’s goalie Garon Smith had four.

“Fortunately my defenders were able to force them into taking shots that weren’t always the best,” Chulick said. “They forced them to shoot from wide angles. This makes the likelihood of a goal smaller for them and my job easier. The four defenders in front of me did a really good job last [Saturday] night.”

Corner kicks played a decisive role in Saturday night’s game, as Penn garnered seven while the Bulldogs earned only one. This discrepancy in corner kicks hurt the Bulldogs, who frequently capitalize on set plays.

Above all, weather affected Yale’s play Saturday night.

“It wasn’t really a soccer game because of the conditions,” captain Jordan Raybould ’10 said. “It was so wet. The game kind of turned into more of a battle because you can’t really play soccer. With all of the standing water on the field, a pass literally just stopped before it got to your teammate.”

However, weather was a detriment to both squads.

“Both teams had to play in it, and they just dealt with it better,” Chulick said.

The Bulldogs head to New York on Saturday for a 7 p.m. match against Columbia.