Penn field hockey faces strong nonconference tests

Over the past two weeks, Penn field hockey has dived headfirst into Ivy play, winning one of its first three conference contests.

This weekend, though, the Quakers will get a break from the Ancient Eight grind.

On Thursday, the Red and Blue (4-4) will host Monmouth at Ellen Vagelos Field before travelling down to College Park on Sunday to take on No. 2 Maryland — Penn’s final stretch of consecutive nonconference games for 2014.

The Quakers’ offense has come alive as of late, scoring 11 goals in its last three contests after being shutout by Cornell on Sept. 20. Penn will be hard-pressed to keep that streak up at home against the Hawks (5-6), which have surrendered only 2.18 goals per contest and took No. 20 Michigan State to overtime on Saturday before falling, 4-3.

Penn has seen much of its production in recent weeks come from the dependable sticks of senior attack Emily Corcoran, freshman attack Alexa Hoover and senior midfield Alex Iqbal — the three have combined to score eight of Penn’s goals in the last two weeks.

They’ll need to keep firing on all cylinders — and perhaps more — to keep pace with the Terrapins (9-2). Since losing to Northwestern on Sept. 20, Maryland has won its last four games, winning by an average margin of three goals per contest.

Penn senior goalkeeper Allison Weisenfels has received plenty of praise for her performance in net this season, but Terrapins netminder Brooke Cabrera has done her perhaps one better. The redshirt senior has recorded four shutouts this season, and was just named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

Maryland will be the only ranked team that Penn has played so far this season — with an Ivy matchup against Columbia on Oct. 18 looming, perhaps the Quakers are receiving their biggest test at the perfect time.

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