W. Soccer gets revenge on Monmouth

Angela Konstantaras' play leads the Quakers to a 3-0 halftime lead in the 5-0 win. "We couldn't go on last year's result," Monmouth women's soccer coach Ken Van Schaack said. "We knew it was going to be a completely different game today." How different? Very different. "Last year, they beat us, 5-0, so it was definitely payback time," Penn midfielder Angela Konstantaras said. Konstantaras, one of five freshman in the Quakers' 11-player starting lineup, came out on all cylinders to be the key player of the first half. Her drive into the penalty box in the 32nd minute led to a penalty kick call when Monmouth defender Christina Sellitto was whistled for a handball while chasing down Konstantaras. Freshman midfielder Ashley Kjar would knock the penalty kick into the left corner of the net to open the scoring. Two minutes later, Konstantaras beat two defenders at the left wing and put the shot past Monmouth goalkeeper Lori Houlihan to give Penn a 2-0 lead. As the game seemed to settle into a rhythm, Konstantaras delivered the pass that would nail the Monmouth coffin. "There was space for me to shoot up the middle, and [Penn forward Leah Wulforst] was on the go, and she has the skill to turn and shoot," Konstantaras said. "So, I knew if I played it to her feet she would nail it." Wulforst stopped the lob pass with one foot, turned and fired into the corner of the net to give the Quakers a commanding three-goal lead before halftime. For the Hawks, it was a long day at the office. "We had quite a few injuries coming into the game, and played with three freshman up front, so we knew it was going to be a battle today," Schaack said. The word "battle" would be a mild way of characterizing yesterday's match. Much of the 90 minutes featured rough play and liberal refereeing, explaining the low foul totals of 11 for Monmouth and 14 for Penn, respectively. Examples included Kjar being grabbed and pulled down from behind by Monmouth forward Kristen McDermott, and Hawks midfielder Heather Blauvelt holding Penn defender Jacky Flood in a headlock and taking her down to the turf. No fouls were called on either play. "We went into this game knowing that they were going to be very physical, but at the same time, so were we," Konstantaras said. Penn (11-5) stood their ground the rest of the game, defeating Monmouth, 5-0, for their eighth shutout of the season. Midfielders Lindsey Carson and Emily Goodman scored Penn's two second half goals, with midfielder Kelli Toland and sweeper Deane Kocivar-Norbury earning assists. Monmouth (9-10), the seventh visitor of the season to Rhodes Field, ended up being the seventh guest to bite the dust. As for the Quakers, last year's loss at Monmouth was not their only source of motivation. "We wanted to try and make a statement after Yale because I thought we were a better team than Yale, but we didn't come to play [that day]," Penn coach Patrick Baker said. "We learned a very valuable lesson: when everything is on the line, the Ivy championship and an NCAA berth, that you've got to come prepared," Baker said. "We didn't then, but we did today."