Soccer bloodied by Crimson at Rhodes Field

Penn's women's soccer team suffered its first loss of 1998 to national power Harvard. Van Halen's song "Right Now" blared in the background during the final warm-ups before the Penn women's soccer team took on No. 22 Harvard Saturday afternoon. The music from the speakers at Rhodes Field could not have more appropriately described the situation facing the Quakers. Right then was the chance for the Quakers to prove to themselves and to the rest of the country that they could contend with the nation's top collegiate teams by defeating a strong Crimson squad in the coming 90 minutes. But right then would not be the right time for Penn, which lost 2-1 in an evenly played match against the three-time defending Ivy League champs. The sting of the loss was twice as sharp for the Quakers' (6-1-1, 0-1-1 Ivy League) defense and goalie Anne Kluetmeier, who conceded their first goal of the season to Harvard (4-3-1, 3-0-0) in the 69th minute to even the score at 1-1. The score ended a seven-game shutout streak by the Quakers. The Crimson's go-ahead goal came five minutes later and was never answered by the Red and Blue, despite a strong offensive surge in the final 10 minutes of play which rarely saw the ball beyond Harvard's half of the field. Kluetmeier described the ending of the 729-minute shutout streak as an "ego-deflater." "But I'd rather give it up to Harvard than some 'Joe Schmo' team," she added. The match started with a quick Harvard offensive attack that got off six shots in the first 20 minutes. Penn's defense seemed to be caught a little off guard by the early Crimson pressure. The Quakers had many problems clearing the ball from its defensive third and creating a decent counterattack. After the 15th minute the Quakers defense finally came together, slowing down the Harvard press and creating scoring opportunities with passes to its midfield and forwards. The Quaker offense saw an immediate boost in the 28th minute with the insertion of Penn leading scorer Kelly Stevens at forward. Stevens gave Penn more possessions in Harvard's half and provided the Penn defenders with a much-needed rest. The teams played back-and-forth in the remaining minutes of the half, but neither was able to convert on its few scoring chances, leaving the teams tied 0-0 at halftime. "We were kind of upset that it was 0-0, because we had some opportunities to score," Stevens said. "But coach [Patrick Baker] questioned why we were upset and got us ready to play the next half." The Penn defense contained another quick Crimson attack through the first 10 minutes of the second half, while the offense kept the pressure on the Harvard backfield. The Red and Blue's offense repeatedly used a cross from the wing, and it won quite a few corner kicks from this attack strategy. In the 63rd minute a corner kick awarded to Penn came flying into the Harvard penalty box, and Jill Callaghan headed the ball down but short of the goal. In an effort to clear the ball, though, a Harvard defender booted the ball into her own back netting and gave Penn a 1-0 lead. "We got real excited when we scored that goal," Stevens said. "But we all had it in the back of our minds that they could come back and score anytime." Unfortunately for Penn, that's exactly what Harvard forward Colleen Moore did. She tied the game six minutes later off of a line drive cross from teammate Beth Zotter. "It was kind of a letdown from the initial excitement of scoring on Harvard," Stevens said. "It didn't hurt us as much as the second goal, though." The second Crimson goal was scored in the 74th minute after a number of defensive mistakes by Penn. After carrying the ball through the left side of the Penn backfield, a Harvard midfielder chipped a ball into the goal area. Kluetmeier grabbed for the routine ball, but it bobbled out of her hands and rolled about 15 yards to a waiting Harvard midfielder. The Crimson player took a shot while the Penn goalie was on the ground, but Quaker midfielder Angela Konstantaras headed the ball back to the top of the penalty box before the shot could score. Finally, Harvard defender Melissa Crandall got control of the ball and sent it into the side netting of the open goal. Nothing but tears fell for the Penn players once the final horn blew and their chance for national recognition and their first victory over Harvard faded away. "It kind of stinks," Baker said after the game. "We put the best team out there we've ever had, we did what we could,and on today it just wasn't good enough to beat a very strong Harvard team.