W. Soccer takes pride in near-win

Smiles covered the players' faces. Proud family members congratulated coach Patrick Baker on a job well done. Everyone was obviously in good spirits. The excitement of everyone in attendance Saturday seemed to demonstrate the Penn women's soccer team had just won its first Ivy game of the season. It didn't. "This is the best 90 minutes of soccer we've played," Baker said. "We've been building on bits and pieces of good play, but today we can build on the whole game. We had some chances to win it [but] the roll of the dice went their way." After a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Harvard (4-2-2, 2-0-1 Ivy League), the Quakers left the field confident they had given their all. "I really don't see anything we could have done differently," sophomore Anne Davies said. "If we could have played it again, I would have wanted us to play it the same way." After an evenly matched first half in which neither team had many legitimate opportunities to score, the Quakers (1-7, 0-3) showed some life with 33 minutes left in the second half. Sophomore Yuka Morita dribbled the ball up the sideline, made several moves to evade Harvard's defense and shot at the Crimson goal. Freshman goalkeeper Dana Krein, who brought a 0.85 goals against average into the game, barely deflected the ball from entering the net. Seven minutes later, Harvard senior Beth Morgan dribbled the ball downfield and crossed it to freshman Emily Stauffer, who promptly deposited the ball into the back of the Quaker net. Although Stauffer, as expected, was the dominant force on the Harvard squad, Baker believed the Penn defense was excellent. "[Stauffer] was only effective for a 10-minute segment," Baker said. "Our game plan worked to a tee. Davies did a fantastic job against Emily." The Crimson was silenced for the remainder of the game. The Quakers threatened a few more times, but failed to convert their opportunities. With 4:23 left, Morita injured her knee on an offensive break and was carried off the field. Penn went quietly after that. "They're playing much more improved as a group. They came in with the attitude they can win," Harvard coach Tim Wheaton said of the Quakers. "Our goalkeeper had to come up with a great save to preserve the win." The Quakers left the field in good spirits despite the failed conversions of several key scoring opportunities. "We didn't capitalize on them, it just didn't fall our way," junior co-captain Meg Kinney said. "I'm sad because it would have been nice to walk out of here with a 'W,' but I'm proud of the way we played. I can walk out of here with my head held high." Baker believes if the Quakers continue to play as they did Saturday, wins will begin to come. "I can handle losses like this," Baker said. "This is how I want us to play game in and game out. The ball's going to bounce in the back of the net one day, and we'll find we're the winner." Perhaps after the next game, the smiles and congratulations will follow a Quaker win, not a well-played loss.

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