As the Harvard men’s soccer team heads into its final game against Penn, the seniors have begun realizing how much of this season has been filled with almosts.

Though it has just two Ivy League wins and at best will finish in a four-way tie for third place, it has also only lost three games by multiple goals and leads the league in points with 77. That point total is more than double the amount scored by Dartmouth and Cornell.

And with hopes of a 10 win season and a second place finish dashed by last weekend’s 2-0 loss to Columbia, any real hopes the Crimson (8-5-3, 2-3-1 Ivy) might have entertained for NCAA tournament bid seem to have gone out the window.

“Okay let’s be honest—our [Ivy] record is not good,” said captain Andrew Old. “But our overall record is pretty decent.”

Further diminishing its possibilities for a postseason run is the fact that the Crimson have only won two games so far against teams with a winning record, though one of these wins came against Central Conn.—the No. 3 team in New England.

Still, just because Harvard’s hopes for an at-large bid may be gone, it doesn’t mean this year’s game against Penn (5-9-2, 1-5) at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow will be any less exciting. And if history has taught us anything, it is that Quakers are, well, quirky.

Last year the Crimson had the joy of playing spoiler, when it beat Penn 2-1 in a bizarre come-from-behind victory.

Midway through the first half, the referee made an objectionable call on a slide tackle from then-freshman defender Will Craig, and awarded the Quakers a golden opportunity with a penalty kick.

The Crimson bench immediately erupted in frustration over the call, prompting the ejection of two Harvard coaches, including Kerr. Then-senior Joe Steffa also got a yellow card, though he would later go on to score the game-winner in the second half.

“We had a bit of a chuckle on the field, because Coach was going absolutely nuts,” Old said.

And while Harvard remains eerily similar to the team that entered last year’s match-up—both times it has entered the match with eight wins, a 2-3-1 conference record and is coming off a loss to Columbia that killed hopes for a postseason berth—Penn has remained anything but constant over the years.

Last year, the Quakers had one loss in league play. This year it has one win in league play, and is likely to finish in last place with the Big Green, the same team it tied with at the top of the league just a year ago.

At least in the Ancient Eights, it seems that this dramatic turn of events isn’t just unique to Penn. In 2002, No. 12 Brown and No. 22 Yale finished in the sixth and seventh slots, but are now expected to finish in first in second, respectively. And in 2001 Penn finished in seventh place, while the Bears tied for first.

“It’s funny how things go in soccer, and how they go in the Ivy League,” Kerr said when asked about the vast number of jumps from worst to first, and vice-a-versa.

But not so funny for Harvard is its situation on the front lines. Sophomore forward Brian Charnock found out last weekend that he has to have surgery this coming winter on his groin, an injury that has been plaguing him all year. And freshman forward Matt Hoff took the day off from practice on Wednesday after re-aggravating a knee injury at practice on Tuesday.