Quakers drop Ivy opener to Big Green

As the whistle blew at halftime of the Penn-Dartmouth field hockey game on Saturday, the Quakers fate was already sealed. The inexperienced Penn squad was already down 5-1 at Chase Field in Hanover, N.H, as the first-half of action came to an end. "They were a superior team," said Penn coach Val Cloud. "We just got overwhelmed, but I think we learned a lot from the game." The Quakers' only goal came with 25 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first half. Penn junior midfielder Erica Childs redirected a shot by junior forward Amy Meehan into the goal to tie the score at one. The score remained tied until the 13:15 mark, when Dartmouth scored its second of five first-half scores. "We came out strong in the beginning, but we were caught off guard," Quakers senior co-captain Curran Kelly said. "There were breakdowns all over the field." The Red and Blue (1-2, 0-1) did not give up in the second half as it held Dartmouth to only one goal. But the offense was unable to answer Dartmouth's first-half scoring binge. Penn fell to 1-2 on the season after the 6-1 loss. "Dartmouth looked like they were already in the middle of their season the way they played together as a team," Cloud said. "Physically, we were inferior. We need more experience playing." Penn lost seven starters after its 10-7 season last year including captain Sue Quinn. This year's squad is young, with only one senior -- co-captain Curran Kelly -- and five juniors. Seven of the starters are new, including two freshman. "It's experience," Kelly said. "We have a young team." Despite the loss, all was not a wash for the Quakers. "Our goalkeeper was outstanding," Cloud said. "We also had some good offensive movement." Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Dunn had 22 saves in the game, despite recent rule changes favoring the offense and a troubled Penn defense. "We need more of a team defense," Kelly said. "We have a hard time on our transition game." The beginning of the season has been a high-scoring one for the Red and Blue. This has been due, in part, to a recent rule change. Since last season, the offsides rule has been eliminated and shots on goal outside the circle up to 25 yards are now allowed. This allows players to shoot from further away and teammates to stand closer to the goal for the rebound shots. The results of the changes have been higher scoring games. "I'd like to see us go back to only scoring within the circle," Cloud said. The Big Green took greater advantage of the new offsides rule than the Quakers did, recording 35 shots to Penn's 17. "We haven't used it to our advantage as much as we could because we're not used to it," Kelly said. As the season continues, the young Quakers team will be looking for a leader on the field. "The start of the season was nebulous," Cloud said. "We have no stars. We have no one person."