W. Soccer hits rock bottom in Ivy League

The Penn women's soccer team dropped to 0-4-1 in the Ivy League. A season that started with such bright promise and intensified after a glorious start has lately turned sour for the Penn women's soccer team. After returning 22 lettermen and 10 starters from a team that finished 14-5, the Quakers seemed poised for a run at its first league championship and NCAA tournament berth. Over the past five years Penn coach Patrick Baker has slowly built a competitive team, and last year's unparalleled success was seen as the launching-pad to national recognition. Unfortunately for Penn, Baker's squad is suffering from some of the cruel learning lessons that invariably accompany a program's rise to glory. The latest disappointment was Penn's 3-2 loss to the previously conference winless Brown Bears Saturday in Providence, R.I. The Red and Blue's record now stands at 9-4-1 overall, 0-4-1 in the Ivy League. On a clear evening, with 658 fans in attendance, Brown opened the scoring 3:17 into the game with a header by Rebekah Splaine, assisted by Kim Lanzire. Nine minutes later, the Bears extended their lead to 2-0 after Splaine and Michaela Rooney set up a six-yard shot to Courtney Raker. "Initially, we didn't understand what they were trying to do," Baker said. "Their gameplan was to bring another player forward, put [the ball] on her feet, and let her run with it up the field. They scored two quick goals, but in fairness to our group we turned it around and Jill [Callaghan] equalized with two goals." Indeed, the junior forward increased her team-leading goal total to 10 and her points lead to 24 at the 13:51 mark with an unassisted 18 yard shot past Brown goalkeeper Mary Jo Markle. Only five minutes later, sophomore midfielder Angela Konstantaras set up Callaghan for another score, tying the game 2-2. "This year we've been averaging about two goals a game and in our losses, we've been playing from behind early," Baker said. "We prefer to score first and put the defensive onus on them." Throughout the game, the Quakers continued to challenge the Brown defense, outshooting them 19-11. No more goals were scored through halftime, but Brown's Rooney dealt the Quakers a fatal blow in the 60th minute on her unassisted go-ahead goal 18 yards out. "I would be lying if I said the coaches and players weren't a little bit disappointed," Baker said. "We peppered them with shots and a few hit the posts, but their keeper came up big. I'm proud of our team because we're playing and coaching with class and that's what [this team] is about." What made this defeat particularly revolting was now the Quakers find themselves at the bottom of the league standings, tied with the Cornell team they played to a 0-0 draw on September 26. Despite their poor league record, the team feels like it played well enough to win in every game but the 3-0 Dartmouth loss on October 10th. More importantly, with three games left the team hopes to once again reach double-digits in wins and establish momentum for what was once an emerging program.