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fieldthehockey
Field Hockey beats Harvard 4-1 Credit: Thomas Munson , Thomas Munson

Another game, another hero for Penn field hockey.

Last Saturday, it was Alex Iqbal’s turn in the spotlight. The senior captain scored three goals, all off of corner plays, to propel the Quakers to a 4-1 victory over Harvard. The win was Penn’s first in Ivy League play, and it moved the team to 4-3 overall in the season.

On Saturday, the Quakers will look to stay hot and pick up their third straight win when they travel north to take on Dartmouth at noon in Hanover, N.H. and they hope to find another hero in the process.

Iqbal was just the latest star for a very deep Penn squad. In the Quakers’ previous game on Sept. 24, senior attack Emily Corcoran scored two goals — pushing her total to a team-high eight — in a 4-2 road win over Liberty.

The Big Green sit at 2-5 on the season and are coming off a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over Bryant on Sunday. With both teams sitting at 1-1 in Ivy League play, the stakes will be high for both sides.

One Penn player to watch will be standout freshman attack Alexa Hoover.

Hoover has been a revelation for Penn, having already picked up two Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards over the first month of the season. However, after scoring six goals over the team’s first four games, she has cooled down somewhat as of late, netting just one over the Quakers’ last three contests.

Still, Hoover’s seven tallies on the season are good for third in the Ivy League. Along with Corcoran — whom Hoover cites as her biggest role model on the team — the Quakers have two of the Ancient Eight’s top three goal scorers. If Penn is to keep up its winning ways, it will need big performances from both star attacks on Saturday.

The Red and Blue’s depth has not been limited to the offensive end of the field, however.

Senior goalkeeper Allison Weisenfels has had a breakout year. Despite playing in only two career games prior to 2014, Weisenfels has turned away 74.4 percent of the shots she had faced, good for third in the Ivy League. Frequently referred to by coach Colleen Fink as one of the team’s hardest workers in practice, the goalie has anchored Penn’s stingy defense throughout the first half of the season.

Dartmouth will be led by senior forward Ali Savage, last week’s Ivy League Player of the Week. Savage earned the honor after scoring four goals over the Big Green’s last two games, including the overtime winner to down Bryant on Sunday.

A longtime standout, Savage has now tallied 42 career goals and seven Ivy Player of the Week honors. While the Quakers have plenty of offensive firepower of their own, stopping Savage will be a top priority for Weisenfels and the Penn defense.

With half of the season left to go, the Quakers will be looking to vault into the Ivy’s top tier. Saturday in Hanover would be a perfect place to start.

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