Soccer teams are primed to upset Bears

Women look to continue winning streak To say last week was a good one for the Penn women's soccer team would be a tremendous understatement. After defeating Columbia last Wednesday for their second Ivy win ever, the Quakers (4-7, 1-3 Ivy League) trounced Drexel 7-0 Friday and pulled out a 6-3 overtime win against Lafayette Tuesday. Penn takes its three-game winning streak to the Ivy League's top team, Brown (6-3, 4-0) tonight. As if three consecutive victories wasn't enough, junior co-captain Meg Kinney was named Ivy League Co-Player of the Week and Penn Female Athlete of the Week. Freshman goalkeeper Perry Cohen –– complete with a broken hand –– was the league's Rookie of the Week for her two shutouts. "The team has been playing so well since Harvard," Cohen said. "The defense has done a great job helping me out, knowing that I'm not 100 percent." The Quakers, however, had some trouble playing a winless Drexel squad at first. Until the 15-minute mark, they hadn't even scored a goal. "Some people just weren't in it mentally," coach Patrick Baker said. "I let them fight through the first 15 minutes to see if they could find their groove." After several substitutions, Penn finally jumped past the Dragons when sophomore Jill Brown scored the first goal of her career. She volleyed a Kinney corner kick into the back of the Drexel net. By halftime, the Quakers led 3-0. "I was frustrated from the standpoint that Drexel hadn't had a shot on goal all season long," Baker said. "They bunched everybody back towards the goal and we were content to shoot from 30 yards out. We made their keeper look like an All-American." The Dragon goalkeeper surely lost her All-America status after a barrage of second-half goals, including a hat trick by Amaryllis Seabrooks. "We played our game," Cohen said. "A lot of times when you play a team that's not as strong, you play down to their level. We worked really hard to keep our level of play up." With Drexel sent back to Market Street after the blowout, the Quakers set their sights on Lafayette. "We didn't play a great first half," sophomore Lisa Paster said. "We should have put the game away in regulation time." With the score tied 3-3 and regulation time ticking away, it appeared the Quakers might again lose again. Kinney and sophomore Anne Davies collided with 20 minutes left in the game. Kinney suffered a chipped tooth and concussion, and Davies left the game with a cut on her forehead. Both are expected to play tonight. "After Meg and Anne went down, the group got locked and focused," Baker said. "We were a bit deeper on the bench and a bit fitter, which showed in the last 30 minutes of overtime." The Quakers kicked their play into high gear when, 10 minutes into overtime, freshman Darah Ross sent the ball to the back of the Leopard net. Penn went on to score two more goals in overtime and sealed the victory. "The actual 90 minutes weren't great. We really turned it on in overtime," junior co-captain Heike Krippendorff said. "We started finishing and clicking as a team." The Quakers, however, will have their work cut out for them when they face Brown tonight. "They're strong all over," Baker said. "They play very quick. The ball never stops. It's like poetry in motion." With a massive injection of confidence during the past week, the Quakers refuse to concede defeat. "All the pressure is really on them," Paster said. "We're coming off three wins. I think we're due to upset a big team and Brown is a good candidate for that upset." With the Ivy League Co-Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week in addition to the three-game winning streak, Penn will send a good team to Providence.

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