F. Hockey tops Wildcats in OT

Extra playing time was what the Penn field hockey team was shooting for at the end of last season, but this wasn't exactly what it had in mind. Amy Pine's goal 3:26 into overtime capped a spectacular comeback and propelled the Quakers to a 3-2 victory over a physical Villanova squad on the windy Franklin Field turf last night. "I think this shows the character of the group, the maturity of the group," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "Last year they got rattled if they were down. The ability to come back is outstanding. It was a great team effort and it was a great comeback." The Quakers (1-0) could not have asked for a better way to open the new season. The team bounced back from a 2-0 halftime deficit and successfully exacted revenge on a Wildcat team (1-2) that spoiled the Penn opener last year. The win demonstrated the experience of the squad that successfully began its quest for postseason play. "It's a great win, especially because we lost to Villanova last year," sophomore defender Sue Quinn said. "It's not only great because it's the first game of the season, but it's just great beating Villanova. There was just that tension between the teams that you could feel on the field." The Wildcats roared out of the gate quickly capitalizing on their first two corner attempts and pouncing on the Quakers. The same Villanova combination of Bree Hawthorne to Marianne Connelly to Staci Verzera to the back of the net struck twice, the second time with eight minutes remaining in the opening half to give the Wildcats a 2-0 halftime edge. "I think we definitely came out more focused in the second half," senior co-captain Missy Hecht said. "It was a combination of a) We weren't going to let [a loss to Villanova] happen again and b) we have a different attitude this year and it means doing what it takes to win. We knew we had to go out there with a more aggressive, winning attitude." After that it was all Quakers. Penn opened the half by applying consistent pressure in the Villanova end of the field. The aggressive play quickly paid off as 10:02 into the half senior co-captain Fran Maguire skillfully maneuvered between Wildcat defenders and slid a beautiful pass across the goalmouth to sophomore forward Amy Shapiro who guided it between the pipes. The Quakers evened the score at two with 12:31 left in regulation when Pine was awarded her second penalty stroke of the night. Penn's leading scorer from last year, Pine had fired her previous attempt wide right. This time with the crowd silently awaiting her move, Pine fired a bullet into the upper left corner of the cage past the outstretched glove of Villanova goalie Chrissy Thomas. "I was sort of panicking because I missed the first stroke, and that was going through my mind," Pine said. "Back in high school, I used to go to the left side and the first time I went to my right. So I tried to go back to the way I know best. I think [Thomas] didn't know which way it was going, so luckily it went in." With few scoring chances in the final minutes of regulation, the contest remained even after 70 minutes and the teams took a break to prepare for the 15-minute sudden-death overtime. The Quakers would end the drama quickly. Just three minutes into the OT, sophomore forward Jessica Gilhorn's relentless pressure resulted in a Penn corner. The Quakers, unsuccessful on their two previous corner attempts of the game, opted for a change. Instead of a direct shot by Pine, Penn opted for a give-and-go. Pine sent the ball to Quinn and got it back to unleash a shot that landed squarely in the back of the net, giving the Quakers the 3-2 season-opening victory. "That's one of the corners that we practice," Quinn said. "Amy had taken two corners and they were just straight shots, so we just tried one of our corners and it worked exactly as planned." "Quinn passed the ball back to me and I was open and able to shoot it in," Pine said. "If everything else didn't work up to then, I would have never gotten the shot – a perfect pass, a perfect stop, a perfect touch – we all work together."