Hansel's strike gives F. Hockey a 3-1 victory

Emily Hansel's goal with less than three minutes left iced the Quakers' win over Lafayette Emily Hansel's halftime soul-searching proved successful last night, as her goal late in the second half clinched a win for the Penn field hockey team over the Lafayette Leopards, 3-1, last night at Franklin Field. "I felt that the first half was a little slow, and we were not quick moving to the ball, so after halftime, I psyched myself up," Hansel said. "I wanted to get the ball in the net. It felt good to score again." The Quakers (3-1) survived a second-half momentum shift that saw Lafayette (3-3) become more aggressive on offense and step up the defensive pressure. Kim Stone's penalty-stroke goal in the seventh minute of the final period was the only scoring the Leopards could muster, although their attack was strong until the final whistle sounded. "I think our maturity up front -- our seniors -- won us this game," Penn coach Val Cloud said. The game opened with Penn showing enough offensive intensity to collect four corner opportunities. On the first chance, senior co-captain Michele Canuso-Bedesem unloaded a powerful shot on the Lafayette net, only to watch it hit the left post and rebound out of the circle. Scoring opportunities were plentiful, with a breakaway in the 12th minute almost resulting in a Quakers score. Canuso-Bedesem knocked a shot downfield to hook up with Hansel. Hansel's shot attempt failed, however, and the game remained scoreless. Cloud was pleased with her team's offensive performance. For the night, Penn outshot the visitors, 26-8. Sophomore midfielder Maureen Flynn opened the scoring for Penn with 11:36 to go in the first half, when she followed her own shot and put her second effort past Lafayette senior goaltender Ali Jones. The goal resulted from one of Penn's four first-half corners. The teams left the field at the half with the Quakers leading 1-0. The Leopards came out much more aggressively in the second half, attacking the ball and anticipating Penn's passing. "Lafayette definitely had a spurt of momentum at the beginning of the half," Cloud said. This stretch was capped by Stone's penalty-stroke goal with 28 minutes to go in the game. After bringing the ball into Penn's circle, Lafayette watched as a sure goal was knocked away by the foot of a defender, resulting in the penalty. Stone took the shot, and lifted the ball over the leg of Penn junior goaltender Sarah Dunn to tie the score at one. Following the goal, both teams began to play an up-and-down game, with action taking place all over the field. "We always expect a dogfight with them," Cloud said. "They're always quick and have good athletes, they usually just don't have the stick work that we have." The excitement was increased by the strong play of Hansel, who spent much of the second half attacking the goal. Hansel worked for one-on-one, point-blank shot opportunities twice, but was denied. It was not until senior forward Tara Childs scored her team-leading fifth goal from 6 feet out with 18 minutes left that the Quakers were back on top. Lafayette continued to put on the pressure, however, and the Leopards matched the Quakers' second-half corner total with five. Hansel then clinched the win, receiving senior forward Amy Meehan's pass on a three-on-one and scoring her second goal of the season.