W. Soccer raises play

While most of the University was away, the Penn women's soccer team was busy playing its best soccer of the year. With two victories over fall break the Quakers improved their record to 7-4-1. Penn hosted cross-town rival La Salle (5-7-2) at Rhodes Field Sunday. The match was a major test for the young Quakers. The Explorers held the Penn offense in check all afternoon, thwarting everyone's scoring chances. Sometimes the ball sailed wide and other times the keeper came up with a big save, but with every attempt the Quakers came away empty-handed. "The match was very frustrating. We never felt like we were in control," Penn coach Patrick Baker said. The frustration continued for the entire game as Penn and La Salle remained deadlocked in a scoreless tie at the end of regulation. "We felt like we played too hard to walk away with a tie?the way our girls played a tie would have been unjustifiable," Baker said. The overtime period proved no different for the Quakers. Darah Ross had several quality shots in overtime but never capitalized. "Every scoring opportunity went amiss," Baker said. Still knotted in a scoreless tie, the teams entered a second overtime. Weary from the duration of the match, both squads nevertheless pushed forward. Finally, in the 115th minute, the Quakers' luck changed when Heather Herson took a corner kick from Jacky Flood and deflected the ball off her body past La Salle goalkeeper Jill Weber. "When we got that goal it was a sense of relief. We relaxed and played much better," Baker said. It showed as sophomore Darah Ross added another goal less than four minutes later when she took a feed from Wendy Bass at midfield, raced past a defender and beat Weber for a 2-0 final. The Quakers' next opponent was Lafayette Tuesday. Penn tamed the Leopards 7-1, which marked the biggest margin of victory this season for the Quakers. This match was dominated by Penn's second-half surge, which netted seven unanswered goals. Although the score doesn't indicate it, the Red and Blue struggled for the entire first half. "The first half was a repeat of the La Salle match -- we dominated but could not put the ball in the net," Baker said. What was even more frustrating was the 1-0 deficit that stared the Quakers in the face after only 19 minutes of play. The Quakers controlled the ball from the start of the match, but the first time the Leopards took possession of the ball past midfield they scored. Tricia Fryer tallied the goal for Lafayette. The Quakers didn't stay down for long. Only three minutes later Jacky Flood netted the equalizer, making the score 1-1 at the half. At halftime the Quakers regrouped. Baker let his players know they weren't playing like they were capable and they had to raise their level of play. The Quakers responded big-time in the second half. Jacky Flood scored another goal on the assist from Kelly Stevens early in the second half. Several minutes later Katie Flood netted a goal on another assist from Stevens. Katie Flood added another goal six minutes later to make the score 4-1. Kelly Nolan and Darah Ross rounded out the scoring. Penn's 7-4-1 record is the best in the program's five-year history.