SEASON REVIEW: Dream of 3-peat did not happen

F. Hockey finishes season in 2nd As the members of the 1994 Penn field hockey team can attest, success is a relative term. Under most circumstances, a team finishing with a 9-5-1 record against some of the stiffer competition in the nation would be proud of its accomplishments. However, for the defending Ivy League champion Quakers, who expected to breeze to a third consecutive Ancient Eight title, a 3-2-1 Ivy record did not inspire much boasting. "I definitely think we felt quite a bit of pressure, rightly or wrongly," senior midfielder Amy Pine said. "It had an effect on us. I think we were playing more not to lose than to win." For the Quakers, who were 7-1-1 and riding a six-game unbeaten string going into the last six games of the season, the drop-off occurred during the latter stages of the schedule. In its last six games, Penn went 2-4, including devastating Ivy losses to Cornell and eventual champion Princeton. "The Cornell game was a killer," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "We definitely should have beaten them, but we gave them a little life and they took it to us. That really hurt us." The Quakers never really rebounded. They dropped the following contest 3-1 at Penn State to reduce their record to 7-3-1. They were reeling and struggled visibly through the subsequent 1-0 home win against Brown. "We really had trouble with Brown when we should not have," Sage said. "There was no reason for it. Maybe we were just overconfident." Penn next traveled to perennial-power Maryland and dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Terrapins. Though the Quakers defeated Yale in their next contest, they relinquished their stranglehold on the Ivy title when Princeton whipped Cornell. With one game remaining on the schedule, Penn's season was effectively over, leaving ample time to reflect on highlights of the season, of which there were plenty. Highlights like the three-game stretch in early October, when Penn won consecutive contests against Ursinus (by a score of 6-0), West Chester (4-2) and Harvard (5-2). The Quakers had scored 15 goals in three games, breaking out of the offensive funk that plagued their first five contests, during which they tallied only six times. "We had it going for a while," Sage said. "We were really rolling. Then came that loss to Cornell. It was devastating." Before dropping its first Ivy game in nearly three years, Penn managed what was probably its greatest moment of the entire season. "Temple was just huge," Sage said. "We've always had trouble against them, and they are a national power. It was so nice to beat them." In a hard-fought contest at Franklin Field, Penn, on the strength of second-team all-Ivy defender Sue Quinn's first-half goal, defeated the Owls, 1-0, grabbing the national spotlight and forcing future foes to recognize them. "This will make other teams notice us," Sage had said immediately following the game. "Beating Temple proves that we are for real." The rallying cry all season long was a quest for respect. Each win only added to the perception other teams had of the Quakers. Unfortunately for Penn, so did each loss. The season was not a complete wash, which boasts impressive performances against perennial-powers Delaware, Temple, Penn State, Maryland and, most importantly, Princeton. Several Quakers also achieved impressive milestones during the season. Pine, the Quakers' all-everything leading scorer, was a unanimous selection to the all-Ivy first team, her third consecutive year on the list. She becomes one of 15 players to achieve this status three straight years. Pine was voted this distinction on the strength of her 12 goals and two assists, good for 26 points, which paced all Ivy scorers. She became Penn's third all-time leading goal scorer with 33. More importantly, Pine provided offensive heroics when the Quakers were in need of help. She scored five game-winning goals, two of which were in overtime, and another in a 1-0 victory against Yale. "Amy was there for us when we needed her," Sage said. "She is just an incredible field hockey talent, not to mention an incredible girl. It was truly a pleasure to coach her these last four years. She deserves every award she gets." Pine was not the only bright spot of this star-studded team. Senior defender Mandy Kauffman joined her teammate on the all-Ivy first team for the second consecutive season. Senior goaltender Suzy Pures was almost always on top of her game, although she did give up a few disappointing goals. She played every minute in goal for the Quakers, surrendering 1.15 goals per contest while posting six shutouts and stopping 82.7 percent of the shots that came her way. In three overtime games, Pures stopped everything thrown at her, never surrendering a goal. To her credit, Penn only lost three of the nine one-goal contests in which it was involved. "Suzy certainly made big saves for us during the course of the season," Sage said. "She was very valuable in [goal] for us." But for the Penn players, and particularly the seniors, none of these facts and figures means all that much. Sure, each wished they could have won the Ivy title. But now it's all over, they have nothing but fine memories upon which to look back. "We all just felt like a family on this team," Pures said. "We were all so close, and we were all such good friends. I love everyone I played field hockey with." It is this family atmosphere which made playing field hockey at Pennsylvania enjoyable. "I know I am going to miss my teammates," Pine said. "I won't see them as much while we're out of season, and that's something I'll really miss. The close-knit team is what made it all worthwhile."