Ursinus shut out by Penn

Two goalies shut out Ursinus for Penn's first non-league win of 1998. The pieces failed to perfectly fit together, but somehow the Penn field hockey team created a puzzle that spelled out victory. The Quakers (3-2) defeated non-league opponent Ursinus 3-0 at last night's home game on Franklin Field. "I was pleased with the win, but the second half was despicable," coach Val Cloud said. "There was a very poor effort in the second half," she added. "[The team] didn't use their heads." The missing piece to make the game a perfect win was the link that failed to carry over the first-half play into the second half. Penn came on the field ready to play and ready to win. With 26:02 remaining in the first half, Bess Freedlander scored the first goal of the game unassisted. Shortly after with 22:45 remaining in the first half, she did it again, this time assisted by Courtney Martin. Penn firmly stood its ground from the first few minutes in the first half to the last minutes. With 3:26 left in the half, freshman Maria Karas, assisted by Nikki Battiste, scored the third and final goal of the game. The only positive aspects of the game were "the three goals," according to Cloud. "We should not have gone downhill after the first half," Cloud added. Unfortunately, downhill is where Penn went. There were misplayed balls, the team failed to change direction and they tried to dribble through their opponents. "There was a mental breakdown in the second half," Martin said. In the first half the Quakers took 12 shots on goal, as opposed to Ursinus' three shots on goal. The mental breakdown came into play when Ursinus took 11 shots in the second half, matching Penn's second-half shots on goal. "We weren't clicking in the second half or playing to our ability," Katie McCuen said. Despite the second-half breakdown, Penn continued to shut out Ursinus, giving coach Cloud a chance to play new faces. One of the new game faces was goalie Alison Friedman. Last night's matchup was Friedman's season debut. According to Cloud she was the "highlight of the second half." "The team has such confidence in [Friedman] as a goalie," tri-captain Maureen Flynn said. Together, Friedman and starting goalie Sarah Dunn had a team shutout. Saturday at 10:30 a.m., the Quakers are looking for another shutout when they take on Ivy League rival Harvard. A win on Saturday will keep two streaks alive for the Quakers -- an undefeated streak in the Ivies (2-0) and an undefeated streak on home turf (2-0). Tomorrow there is an extra incentive to keep their home game winning streak alive, as Harvard is a grass team. In other words, Harvard is used to a slower game than the faster paced turf game. "We will try to take advantage of the home field," Cloud said. In their quest to keep two streaks going strong, the Quakers are looking to lock the first and second halves perfectly together to spell out another win.