F. Hockey splits weekend pair

As the rest of the Penn campus took a breather during its all-important fall break, the Penn field hockey team took to the road in search of two important victories. The Quakers' first and arguably more important battle of the long weekend was up in Ithaca, N.Y., against the Big Red. The Quakers needed a victory to remain at the top of the Ivy heap along with Princeton. On a windy Sunday, the Quakers dominated Cornell from the get-go. Both Penn's offense and defense held their own, pushing the Big Red to its limit. It wasn't until the 5:20 mark in the first half, however, that the Quakers managed to score. On a penalty corner shot, Sue Quinn put Penn ahead 1-0. Abby Herbine and Kara Philbin assisted. After stopping six shots on the half, Quakers goalkeeper Sarah Dunn let in what would be Cornell's only goal on the game with only 1:30 left in the half. After halftime, the Red and Blue continued to dominate the Big Red, yet only were able to capitalize once. It was deja vu all over again as Quinn scored on a penalty corner from a Herbine-Philbin feed. 2-1 Quakers. Game, set, match. Dunn continued her excellence in the second half, shutting out Cornell, which mustered seven more shots in her direction. With the victory under its belt, the team headed for Penn State to take on the No. 4 team in the nation. At the home of the Nittany Lions, the Red and Blue got off to a rough beginning. Within 10 minutes from the start, Penn State scored two goals to jump ahead 2-0. With rugged determination, however, Penn battled the rest of the game, holding the Lions scoreless until the five minute mark of the second half. Penn's lone goal was an unassisted shot by Herbine 15 minutes into the second half. The Nittany Lions held on for a 3-1 victory. "We really stayed in there and kept our heads in the game," Philbin said. "They took advantage of scoring opportunities, and they're a really good passing team." Dunn only had to stop six shots all game, while the Quakers smacked 17 shots in Penn State's direction. Although the Cornell game was more important in terms of reaching postseason play, the team would have "loved to upset a top-ranked team," according to Philbin. Had the Quakers defeated Penn State, they probably would have forced the national pollsters to take notice. But despite the fact that Penn, although it has defeated several tough opponents, is unranked, the team is not entirely worried about that. "We're concerned with playing hard and having fun, not necessarily where we're ranked," Philbin explained.