W. Soccer explodes for eight goals

Three Quakers - Andrea Callaghan, Jill Callaghan and Emily Goodman - scored twice in the 8-0 Temple win. The numbers were astronomical for Penn women's soccer team in its thrashing of Temple yesterday afternoon at Rhodes Field. The 26 shots on goal and the 8-0 shutout of the Owls (3-6) marked the third shutout by the Quakers (4-1) this season. However, it took 33 minutes for the Quakers to get on the scoreboard, and that's the fact that may get the most attention, despite the eye-popping goal total. "We struggled to dictate the flow liked I hope we would," Penn coach Patrick Baker said. "We did get in and we had some chances early. Unfortunately, we weren't able to capitalize on them." Penn had many chances in the first 15 minutes, during which the Quakers were consistently in the Temple box. From that point on, much of the game was played at midfield with an occasional offensive push by Penn until forward Emily Goodman broke away down the left wing to the goal line. Forward Jill Callaghan was waiting on the doorstep of the goal area. "Emily made a great run up the sidelines, came angling in toward the goal, flicked it off the side of her foot to me, and I had the open shot," Callaghan said. The shot turned into the goal that would propel the Quakers on offense. Callaghan also scored seven minutes later off the individual effort by midfielder Angela Konstantaras, who weaved her way down the right side and beat a defender before making the pass. However, despite 12 first-half shots on goal, including eight within the 18-yard box, it was the goal scored 43 seconds into the second half that would open the floodgates. "What our young group has got to understand is one team is going to have a great chance to score early in each half," Baker said. "In the second half today, we scored in the first 45 seconds. Somehow, there is always a first chance and against a team like Temple, I was hoping that we would capitalize on it early." That chance came when Konstantaras once again ran down the wing to send the cross to Leah Wulforst, who touched the pass into the net. When the day was done, Andrea Callaghan and Emily Goodman would add two goals apiece for Penn, with forward and co-captain Darah Ross rounding out the scoring late in the game. Goodman, Wulforst, Jill Callaghan and Lindsey Carson also had assists. The opponent will be more of a challenge this weekend as Cornell comes to town for an Ivy League showdown of the unbeatens. "It's going to be a tough game, going to be really intense. They (Cornell) can obviously score some goals because they scored six goals against Columbia," forward Andrea Callaghan said. "In last year's game, we were knocking in on the goal, but couldn't get in a goal. This year, we've been so much better at finishing our opportunities." The Quakers will need to be at their best, as the Ivy title chase begins to shape up. "Yale hosts Harvard, both are 1-0 in the Ivy League. Cornell and ourselves are 1-0 in the Ivy League. So there will be two left after this weekend," Baker said. "We haven't played our best yet. Our best is yet in front of us."