F. Hockey loses close one to W

Sometimes the better team simply does not win. This was the case Sunday as the talented Penn field hockey team controlled most of the action but could not capitalize on a multitude of opportunities and suffered a frustrating first loss to William & Mary, 2-1, on the Franklin Field turf. The Quakers' (2-1) final opportunity to tie the game slipped away as junior Amy Pine's shot off a Penn corner floated over the defense, over the goalie, and just barely over the cage – landing on top of the net, not in it. "I think we were the better team today but the score doesn't indicate it," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "It happens where your team does not play well. We just didn't get the job done. I didn't feel that drive, that enthusiasm, that spark out there today." The Quakers lost despite blistering Tribe goaltender Sarah Witkowski with 18 shots, while William & Mary (2-2) was able to unleash only six. The Penn pressure was to no avail however as only one of the Quaker shots found its desired location. As the shots on goal would indicate, Penn had the ball in the Tribe end of the field for most of the game, including almost all of the first half. "It's good to keep the pressure on, but it's bad that we had 18 shots and only one went in," Pine said. "We should have had more goals." "We had the ball the whole first half," Sage said. "They didn't penetrate at all. I think we had the opportunity to jump on them. We totally dominated the game [in the first half]." Another example of the Quaker dominance was that Penn was awarded seven corners while the Tribe was only able to amass two. Again Penn couldn't use this advantage to its favor as all seven opportunities went by without a goal. "We didn't capitalize on the chances we were given," sophomore forward Kara Philbin said. "We were all trying to work together and things weren't clicking as well as they usually do." Much of the reason why the Quakers weren't in sync was the Penn passing game. The Quakers were not looking for each other and delivering the quick, crisp passes that they normally do. Lack of communication plagued Penn. "[Not converting on opportunities] was very frustrating," Penn senior co-captain Missy Hecht said. "We've got to be prepared to play both halves, to stay together and to communicate. We need to work together more. There was much less communication and that's where the breakdown came." Part of the Quakers' offensive difficulties may have been brought about by the William & Mary defense. The Tribe filled the area in front of their cage with defenders who broke up numerous Penn scoring chances. The great number of defenders made it difficult for the Quakers to open up the attack. "They packed everybody in the circle," Pine said. "It was hard to get the ball through because they had people all over the place. There were no openings." William & Mary was not able to find any cracks until the second half either. With the contest still deadlocked at zero the Tribe finally opened up the scoring when Holly Ventura emerged from a goal-mouth scramble with the ball and slid it past a diving Suzy Pures. The goal gave William & Mary a 1-0 lead with 25:57 left in the contest. The Tribe added to this margin with 12:58 left when Erin Woodfield set up Cristina Limpens for a shot which beat Pures to the short side. Despite the seemingly insurmountable 2-0 deficit, Penn did not give up. With just 2:46 left in the game the Quakers finally cracked the Tribe's stacked defensive scheme. Penn worked the ball up the right side of the field as Pine and senior co-captain Franny Maguire worked a give-and-go to perfection. Pine then slid a beautiful centering pass across the field which found Philbin's stick. The sophomore did her part as she redirected the pass into the open net to pull the Quakers within a goal. "That was an example of us working together and it shows what we're capable of," Pine said. "When we get the ball, if we work together we can score." In the remaining 2:46 the Penn offense did not let up as Quaker pressure resulted in a corner with under two minutes to play. On the previous six corner attempts, Pine had fired bullets which were all steered away by Witkowski and the William & Mary defense. This time Pine choose to bypass the power shot and instead, lofted it just inches over the Tribe net. "The reason we flipped it was try to throw them of guard," Pine said. "They were rushing real hard and I think everybody was going to rush the ball. If I lofted it over their head it probably would have went in. I missed." While Penn played aggressively in the final few minutes, Sage felt that was not the case during the rest of the half. The Quakers did not possess the fire that they had in the first two victories. "We were waiting for them to do something," Sage said. "We were reacting, rather than making things happen. They were beating us to the ball." Maybe that's why the better team lost.