W. Coccer loses another Ivy game

In their last home game of the season, the Quakers lost 2-0 to Yale. Playing its final home game of the '98 season against Yale on Halloween could have been a very good thing for the Penn women's soccer team. Had the Elis dressed up like another team -- a non-Ivy League opponent, for example -- the Quakers may have defeated them as handily as they've beaten non-league opponents all season long. But according to Penn coach Patrick Baker, it was the Quakers who were a different team, abandoning the top form that helped them defeat nationally ranked George Mason last Wednesday and instead suffering a 2-0 loss to the Elis to drop to 0-5-1 in the Ivy League. "The difference was night and day. Unfortunately, this was the worst we've played all year," Baker said of his team's performance against Yale. "We lacked focus, and we didn't possess the ball very well at all. We didn't possess it well out of the back, we didn't possess it well in the midfield, and once we did find our front runners we usually played it back and lost possession there too. If we would have played Mason today, we would have lost 10-0." Contrary to Baker's view, Yale coach Rudy Meredith felt the Quakers played well and evenly matched his team. According to Meredith, it was anybody's game before Penn gave up a goal to the Elis midway through the second half. "It was a very even game and both teams did a good job," Meredith said. "They had chances and we had chances and we were just fortunate enough that our chance went in and theirs didn't. And then after that, the game totally changed." This change was especially pronounced due to the nature of the goal: A penalty kick was awarded to the Elis after Penn sophomore defender Shannon Porter received a red card. In trying to stop a ball en route to an empty Quakers net, Porter used her hand to swipe the almost-goal from behind. "[Yale's] kid had a pretty good run, and she took our keeper. I was hoping Shannon was going to slide with her feet versus sliding with her hands, but it was a split second decision and it just happened that way," Baker said. Following the play, several officials met in the center of the field to discuss the penalty. According to Meredith, a red card should be ordered automatically in this scenario. But one official inadvertently grabbed a yellow card, prompting Meredith to storm the field in exasperation. "When a player uses her hand to stop a goal it's an automatic red card, no questions asked. But the referee pulled out a yellow card first because he made a mistake; and he admitted he made a mistake," Meredith said. "So I ran on to the field and then people thought that I got the red card." All of this confusion, in addition to technical difficulties involving the scoreboard, gave sophomore midfielder Jill Rubinstein ample time to contemplate her penalty kick. "I had a ton of time to think about it. When you're getting ready to line up you just realize how big the net is and how little the keeper can be," Rubinstein said. "Basically you just have to worry about making good contact -- keeping it low and hitting it well while making sure not to pull it wide." Rubinstein's kick found its way to the left corner of the net to put Yale up 1-0. Down one player due to Porter's exit, the Quakers had their work cut out for them with only 20 minutes remaining and a comeback in order. "We were down a man and down a goal, so we had we had to play three in the midfield, three in the back, and three up front. We had to take some chances because we had nothing to lose," Baker said. The circumstances gave Yale an optimum scoring opportunity as Penn not only had fewer players to protect its goal, but also couldn't afford to devote its full attention to defense. "They were trying to attack, so they were pushing people forward to try to score," Meredith said. "That's how we caught our second goal. They were attacking, and we caught them on the counter attack." It was Yale freshman forward Sara Ruiz who exploited the Quakers' disadvantage, dribbling up the left sideline to hit the Elis' second goal. "It didn't really matter by then if we lost 1-0 or 3-0, we had to take our chances with moving forward," Baker said. The goal proved to be the nail in the coffin as time ran out on yet another of Penn's chances for an Ivy League victory. Baker expressed sympathy for his team at losing in front of a Homecoming crowd of families, friends, alumni and recruits. "I really feel bad for them. They're a great group and they deserve more on their last game," Baker said. "But for whatever reason this year we're just not meant to be in the Ivy League."