Field Hockey whips Ursinus

It had rarely happened in the first five contests of the season. But when the Penn field hockey team's offense is clicking, it can be a thing of beauty. Last night's Quaker 6-0 pistol-whipping of Ursinus was certainly beautiful. Penn (4-1-1) showed its unwillingness to relinquish its shiny new position as 18th in the national poll. The Quakers jumped on top of Ursinus early and never let up. "We certainly dominated this contest from the jump," Quaker coach Anne Sage said. "It's fun to have a game like this once in a while, when everything goes right." The Quaker fun began just more than 10 minutes into the first half when senior midfielder Amy Pine, the team's leading scorer, notched her fourth goal of the season following some pretty passing on a Penn corner opportunity. In direct contrast to the Villanova game a few weeks ago, when Penn was 0 for 21, the corners clicked all night against Ursinus. The Quakers capitalized on three of eight opportunities last night, including their first two scores of the contest. "The corners were great tonight," Sage said. "They are scoring chances, so it's nice to capitalize like we did tonight." Junior defenseman Sue Quinn followed Pine's example just three minutes later, blasting a shot past Ursinus junior goaltender Barbara Golley off yet another corner. Golley never had a chance on either shot. She was burned low to the stick side on both, a pair of similar titanic blasts from the center of the circle. Golley's woes seemed to represent the flow of the game. Penn peppered her, firing away 20 times, scoring on six shots. Meanwhile, Ursinus could not manage a single shot on Penn senior goalkeeper Suzy Pures. The Quakers were that dominant. "It is a credit to the team that they did not have a single shot on goal," Pures said. "We completely dominated them." Penn had it going in every aspect of the game. The teamwork was exceptional, resulting in the Pine and Quinn goals, as well as a gorgeous hookup with 7 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first half when junior forward Kara Philbin fed classmate Abby Herbine. Herbine's second goal of the season -- she is the Quakers' second leading goal-scorer, behind Pine -- gave the Quakers a 3-0 lead. "That goal was beautiful," Sage said. "We really had it going, and it reflected in the way some of our goals were scored." When passing lanes were shut down, the Quakers took control with brilliant individual efforts. Philbin, for example, left a slew of Ursinus defenders in her wake as she drove for her second tally of the season. Philbin's blast from the right side dented the twine behind Golley before the crowd could even react to her dazzling display of stickhandling. It provided the Quakers with a 4-0 lead. The Quakers seemed to relax a bit after Philbin's goal, but they were still not done scoring. Six minutes later, as the Ursinus defenders bunched in front of their own cage, Philbin managed to knock the ball to a waiting Herbine, who knocked her third goal of the season into the gaping Ursinus net. Fittingly, Pine capped the scoring with 9:19 remaining, a tremendous blast off a corner from senior defensemen Rani Bajwa and Mandy Kauffman, who had also combined to set up Pine's first of the game. With the score 6-0, Sage was left to roam the sidelines and schmooze. "This really was one team dominating another one," Sage said. "We were just more talented, and we took the game to them all night long." Penn's offense had been in a funk since its opening day 3-0 drubbing of crosstown rival St. Joseph's. Last night was the first time since then that the Quakers had scored more than once in a contest. "We know that they are not as good as us," Pine said. "But it still is a positive sign. We were clicking and we were relaxed. We just dominated them." The Quakers loosened up after a team meeting prior to the contest. "We were letting the pressure get to us," Pine said. "But we had a meeting, we discussed a few things, and tonight we just came out relaxed and played our game." But it wasn't all roses for the Quakers. Junior forward Amy Shapiro, a dominant player in her own right, pulled up lame in the first half with a twisted ankle. Fortunately, Shapiro will be ready for Penn's next contest, 11:15 a.m. tomorrow at home against West Chester. "We are ready for West Chester," Sage said. "We're excited about our performance tonight, and we're going on all cylinders." That cannot be good for the remaining teams on Penn's schedule. Penn's offense is in sync, the defense is suffocating, and when they are put together, the results can be devastatingly beautiful. Just ask recently steamrolled Ursinus.