W. Soccer loses Ivy League opener

For the Penn women's soccer team, it's dZja vu all over again. In the middle of a downpour Friday night, the Quakers faced off against Cornell. In a near-replay of last year's game, the young Penn team was shut out by the Big Red, 4-0. The Quakers' starting lineup of only one upperclassman – senior captain and goalie Debbie Goldklang – came out strong, playing Cornell tough for the first 15 minutes. "[The Big Red] were expecting less of a team," sophomore defender Meg Kinney said. "We surprised and scared them, at least for the first 20 minutes." Penn (0-1 Ivy League, 0-2 overall) was clearly overmatched against a more experienced Cornell squad (1-0, 2-1). The Quakers managed only one shot on goal during the entire 90-minute game. "Cornell is a strong team," sophomore midfielder Heike Krippendorff said. "They were intimidating. We tried to intimidate them by sticking them hard in the first half, but after we were scored on once, it was hard to come back." "After the first goal, we just let everything down," Goldklang said. "We can't expect to be a successful team with that production." Though the weather was horrible, the Quakers did not use that as an excuse for their loss. "I was frustrated," freshman forward Yuka Morita said. "The rain made it harder to control the ball, [because] the ball slides a lot faster on wet turf. We let down a little bit, and little things just added up." "Franklin Field was wet and slippery," Krippendorff said. "It should have been to our advantage, because we're used to playing on turf. We should have been able to adjust." Some Penn team members who excelled in the loss included sophomore midfielder Kelly Nolan, Morita, and Goldklang. The Quakers were modest about their performance, considering the overall result. "After they scored, we got really frantic," Nolan said. "I would've been happier if they hadn't scored." Many of the freshmen Quakers commented on playing at Franklin Field for the first time. The combination of the tough Cornell team, the weather, and the stadium experience combined to make the game even more difficult for the newcomers. "I had never played in a stadium like that before," Morita said. "It was an adrenaline rush and nerve-racking at the same time." Penn practice sessions this week will focus on fitness and game-like conditioning as well as learning how to play together as the Quakers attempt to put their first two games behind them. "We've got to learn how to play together," Goldklang said. "We have to work on getting the ball from the defense to the midfielders and finishing. We just can't seem to get that shot off." "We're still trying to work on finishing in the final third," Wolf said. "We've been progressing up the field nicely, but once we get around the 18 [yard line] we just stop." Despite the loss, the Quakers hope to use this game as a learning experience and a positive springboard for the rest of the season. "We're only going to move up from this," Wolf said. "They learned that they can't give up, because the Ivy League only comes back harder." "We're an underdog, always an underdog," Krippendorff said. "Teams come in with the mentality that they were going to beat us. We are trying to use our desire and aggressiveness as advantages. We want to show them that they're wrong." "I'm optimistic," Kinney said. "It was a respectable loss and we walked off the field with our heads up. The score doesn't indicate the real nature of the game."