Big Red rallies with 2 late goals

It is always said that young teams have trouble playing with the lead. The Penn women's soccer team's Ivy League opener against Cornell can be cited as an example. After opening the scoring shortly after halftime Saturday at Rhodes Field, the youthful Quakers (2-2, 0-1 Ivy League) allowed two goals in the final 30 minutes to the visiting Big Red (2-1, 1-0). It was the second straight game in which Penn had surrendered the lead to lose 2-1. The opening half of play was concentrated in the center third of the field. Cornell manufactured several decent scoring opportunities, but generally squandered those by missing wide or rolling the ball harmlessly to the Penn keeper, Amelia Urban. Just before halftime, the Quakers picked up the offensive pace, nearly scoring after a scramble in front of the Cornell net in the final minute. Penn came out of halftime looking more active, and its efforts were quickly rewarded. In the 49th minute, Katie Flood chipped a ball high in the air from the right side of the 18-yard box into the middle, where sophomore Darah Ross headed it into the back of the net for her first tally of the season and a 1-0 Quakers advantage. It was Penn's first score against Cornell in the five-year history of the Quakers' program. The goal seemed to wake up a Big Red squad that may not have anticipated falling behind to a team it had beaten 4-0 a year ago in Ithaca. Twelve minutes later the score was leveled at 1-1, as Cornell forward Caarki Sweitzer skipped a hard, low shot from 25 yards out to Urban's right. Penn's strength all day had been its veteran defensive group. But Cornell's advantage in ball possession was bound to pay off eventually. In the 84th minute it finally did. Lori Penny, the Big Red's creative senior forward, weaved her way into the Penn defense where the ball was deflected to Heather Ott, who knocked a low shot into the goal to close the scoring. The final five minutes provided some of the best action of the match, as Penn pressed for an equalizer. But it was not to be, as balls flew wide of goal or bounced harmlessly to Cornell keeper Marybeth Bell, who recorded an impressive 11 saves on the day. "They didn't expect that much out of us [after last year]?I think we could have won," Ross said. Penn coach Patrick Baker concurred, saying for most of the game Penn "had done all the right things." The young Quakers team impressed another observer, Cornell coach Randy May. "It will come for them," he said. Penn, "will do some damage this season [in the Ivy League]." The record tends to support this assertion, as the Quakers' have not yet allowed more than two goals in a single match. The weakness of the team is the midfield, which Baker called "thin" against Cornell. But that is the youngest area of the team and was populated frequently on Saturday by freshmen. Although the loss dropped the team to the .500 mark, this remains the best start in the program's five year history at the varsity level.