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Women's Field Hockey v Monmouth. I think it was a 2-4 loss. Credit: Isabella Gong , Isabella Gong

In many ways, Saturday’s game was a microcosm of Penn field hockey’s season.

The Quakers (8-9, 3-4 Ivy) battled down to the wire with a high-powered Princeton squad, only to drop a heartbreaker, 4-3.

With the victory coupled with Dartmouth’s loss at Harvard, the Tigers (7-10, 6-1) clinched their 10th straight Ivy League title.

The game was close almost all the way, as neither team ever led by more than one goal. Princeton’s Hailey Reeves got the scoring started nine minutes into the game, but Penn senior Alex Iqbal responded just two minutes later to knot the score at one.

Midway through first half, Penn junior attack Elizabeth Hitti gave the Quakers their only lead, blasting a Emily Corcoran feed into the left corner for a 2-1 advantage. The goal was Hitti’s eighth of the season, good for third on the team.

However, just seven seconds before halftime, the Tigers found the back of the net for the second time as junior Teresa Benvenuti beat the buzzer on a Sydney Kirby pass to tie things up.

Princeton senior Allison Evans gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead shortly after halftime, a score that held for nearly 20 minutes. However, Penn was awarded a penalty stroke with 15 minutes remaining, and freshman sensation Alexa Hoover cashed it in to even the score.

The tally was Hoover’s 14th of the season, giving her the Ivy League’s outright goal-scoring title. Hoover had gone into Saturday in a three-way tie for the honor with Zoe Blake of Columbia and Marisa Siergiej of Cornell , neither of whom scored in their final games of the season.

However, the Quakers’ momentum was halted by Princeton junior Maddie Copeland , who scored the game winner with nine minutes remaining.

Needing a victory and a Columbia loss to clinch the conference title, the Tigers got both, as their decade-long reign over the Ancient Eight continues.

Penn’s seemingly mediocre 3-4 Ivy record belies the number of extremely close losses the Red and Blue have suffered against high-level competition this year. The Quakers dropped a 1-0 nailbiter at Cornell on Sept. 20 and a 4-3 overtime home loss to Columbia on Oct. 18 in addition to Saturday’s squeaker in Princeton. Theoretically, the Quakers could easily have been 6-1 in conference play and in contention for an Ivy League title had things played out differently. As it is, Penn will finish the season tied with Dartmouth for fifth place.

The Red and Blue will lose several key pieces to graduation, including Corcoran, Iqbal, standout midfielder MaryRose Croddick and goalkeeper Allison Weisenfels .

However, the team looks to be strong in 2015, as they will bring back the versatile Hitti, sophomore midfielder Elise Tilton and the phenomenal Hoover. Hitti tied for the team lead with eight assists, while Tilton chipped in four goals.

The 2014 season was full of missed opportunities and what-ifs, but the resilient squad, led by head coach Colleen Fink , will undoubtedly have the star power to be in the thick of Ivy contention next year.

After all, September will be here before we know it.

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