Elis end title hopes for Field Hockey

It was evident, after looking at the cards that Penn field hockey was dealt this past week, that Lady Luck was not on its side. After Saturday's devastating 4-2 loss to Yale (11-4, 4-2 Ivy League), the Quakers (7-8, 4-2) dream of winning the Ivy League Championship was abruptly shattered. On the sideline of any high school field hockey game, fans will undoubtedly hear the bench chanting "every corner is a goal." On Saturday, the Red and Blue proved this old high school saying false, as in Penn's book every corner was not a goal. This was the determining factor in its loss to Yale. "The corners were the difference in this game. Our game play was as strong or stronger than Yale, but that doesn't matter when you don't get the goals," Penn coach Val Cloud said. Although Penn's play was equal to that of Yale for the entire game, the Quakers could not execute their multiple chances to score off corners. The absence of two time Ivy Player of the Week Maureen Flynn was the key component in the Quakers failure to execute on the corners. Flynn, Penn's main corner scorer, ended her junior season early, as she tore her ACL in Wednesday night's 6-0 loss to the nationally ranked Penn State team. Yale, conversely, had nothing holding it back from capitalizing on its corners. "Yale's corners were awesome. They read what [the defense] gave them and were able to get around us," Aviva Meerschwaim said. Yale's captain, Lindsay Hobbs, opened the scoring as she put the ball past Penn's goalkeeper Sarah Dunn with 25:36 remaining in the first half. Determined not to let Yale keep the lead, Courtney Martin used a non-stick dodge to fake her opponent as she scored Penn's first goal to tie the game 1-1. Ten minutes later the Elis answered Martin's unassisted goal as Christine Anthony scored at the 15:17 mark, assisted by Amanda Walton and Anne Rippetoe. The half ended with Yale on top 2-1. To begin the second half, Martin -- leading the Red and Blue in scoring with 21 points -- tied the game once again with her second unassisted goal at the 28:43 mark. Immediately following the goal, Yale's second year coach Marisa Didio called a time out. Didio's quick pep talk gave the Elis a sudden desire to score. Following the time out, Yale's Sue Barnes scored at 27:02 and four minutes later she assisted the put away goal scored by Walton. Three of Yale's four goals were corners, although Penn had a number of more chances than Yale had to score off corners, Lady Luck decided earlier in the week that she was not on the Quakers side. A number of times the Quaker's shots deflected off the goal post or glided just past the post to miss the cage. It was these little things that decided the game, this time the decision was not in favor of the Red and Blue. Maybe the cards dealt this week won't read two losses and an injured captain.