F. Hockey waltzes past Bears

As the clouds flooded Franklin Field Saturday morning, coach Val Cloud's field hockey team was busy flooding the Brown goal in Penn's victory. In the end, the Bears were left all washed up. The torrential downpour, which didn't end until well after the game's conclusion, seemed to be a non-factor as Penn (10-4, 4-0 Ivy League) had no problems taming the Bears 6-1. "[The rain] was amazingly not much of a factor," Cloud said. "They were able to focus on the game. There was some slishing and sloshing, but they were not slipping all over the place." The Red and Blue's fourth victory tied them with Princeton for the Ivy League lead. Sue Quinn began the onslaught 10 minutes into the game with a goal assisted by Kara Philbin and Abby Herbine –– a combination which has had tremendous success on penalty corners. About a minute later, midfielder Emmy Hansel put her name in the books by knocking in an unassisted goal at the 21-minute mark of the half. Playing a respectable game despite the score, Brown scored its lone goal with 20 minutes remaining in the half. Karen Whitaker put one through Penn goalkeeper Sarah Dunn's pads unassisted. Seven minutes later, however, Penn's Amy Shapiro scored, upping the margin to 3-1, which remained the score at the halftime break. As the rain continued into the second half, Penn's shots did too. The Quinn-Philbin-Herbine express continued its goal-scoring trek, as Quinn tallied her 10th on the season halfway through the second period. Philbin continued to go ballistic, scoring her third point of the game on an unassisted goal with about 10 minutes to play. These three points put her at 22 points on the season. Shapiro's second goal of the day a few minutes later capped the scoring. Dunn faced only seven shots the entire game. She has been so effective this season, however, that the one goal she allowed raised her Ivy League goals-against-average to 0.75. As the Red and Blue sailed to victory, everyone got a chance to play. After defender Curran Kelly left the game with a bruised hand, freshman Audrey Heinel replaced her and did a more than adequate job. With Brown predominately attacking on Heinel's side, the left back was clearly up to the task. "She did a really great job," senior Jess Gilhorn said. "She really showed a lot of poise." Gilhorn felt the rain may have affected the Bears slightly more than the Quakers. "Brown uses big drives," Gilhorn explained, "and our sticks were so wet we couldn't hold them at times. So I think it slowed Brown down more than us." Penn remains a half-game behind Princeton for the Ivy League lead, but the Quakers' fate lies in their own hands. At 5-0, Princeton has completed its entire Ivy season with the exception of the exception of the season finale at Franklin Field. Penn realizes an Ivy championship will require an undefeated season. Only Yale stands in the Quakers' way of a marquee matchup against Princeton for the Ivy crown. As Penn dried off after the game with another league victory under its belt, it could only be concerned with the remaining three opponents to come: No. 4 Maryland, the always-tough Elis, and the undefeated Tigers.