W. Soccer edges Columbia and earns tie with Villanova

This past week, the Penn's women soccer team made a turn in the right direction by working overtime to beat Columbia on Saturday and tie Villanova yesterday. The Quakers (3-6-2, 1-2 Ivy League) recorded a 3-2 win over the Lions (9-2,1-2) followed by a 1-1 tie with the Wildcats (6-8-1). Columbia marked Penn's first win in the Ivy League this year, tying its previous record for most conference wins in a season. After giving up a goal to the Lions, the Quakers fought back with two of their own, one by Andrea Callaghan and the other by Tina Cooper. Callaghan's third goal of the season put her in the team lead for goals despite missing almost half of Penn's games. Columbia could not be held back, however, scoring a goal off a cornerkick and causing the game to be forced into overtime. Penn's dominance in overtime shown through as Darah Ross assisted Kelly Stevens game winner. "It was a great win," Penn coach Patrick Baker said. "Columbia came in ranked 8-1. The only other team to score three goals against them was Harvard, now No. 12 in the country. To get that first 'W' [in the Ivy League] was huge." Yesterday afternoon, the Quakers took the Wildcats to a double overtime draw while appearing in their first ever Comcast televised soccer match. In another historical mark, the game was Penn's first in not losing to their inter-city opponents, while giving them an undefeated mark this year in Philadelphia of 2-0-1. The earlier wins came in games against La Salle and Temple. The motivation of both teams lacked in the beginning minutes of the game, causing both coaches to worry about their teams ability to stay focus having just come off their fall breaks. Things changed fast as both teams started to keep possession of the ball, making effective crosses and limiting the amount of touches on the ball. After going into half at 0-0, both teams knew that the game was up for grabs. The Quakers started off strong with solid play by Lindsey Carson, Drew Osler, and Jill Callaghan, allowing Jacky Flood at 63:00 into the game to send a long shot right over the hands of the out of position Wildcat goalkeeper. However, less than two minutes later Villanova's Nikki Pasillico kicked a dribbler that slipped past Jodoin at 64:40 for a goal, the last one on the day. The rest of the game portrayed a continuation of solid Quakers ball movement and the inability to put it into the net. Stevens, Cooper, and Yuka Morita each had many possibilities of game winners that did not fall.

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