Callaghan's goals lead W. Soccer in rout over Temple

Andrea Callaghan had two goals and an assist, as Penn beat the Owls. It may have been an improved offense or simply a weak opponent. Either way, the Penn women's soccer team finally broke loose on the scoreboard by defeating host Temple 4-0 yesterday. The Quakers (4-1-1) were coming off successive 1-0 victories against Ivy League opponents Dartmouth and Cornell. Despite its unbeaten conference record, Penn was clearly having problems putting the ball into the net. The Red and Blue had no such trouble against the Owls (3-4-1), who are not on the same talent level as Penn's Ivy League opponents. The scoring for the Quakers came from both familiar and unfamiliar sources. Senior Andrea Callaghan, who scored the game-winning goals against Dartmouth and Cornell, continued her dazzling offensive season by scoring two goals and adding an assist. The other two goals were scored by freshmen who have not seen as much game action this year. Freshmen Sara Zielske and Heather Taylor both found the net for the first time this season to round out the Penn scoring. "It really wasn't a surprise to me that we had freshmen scoring those goals," senior co-captain Jen Danielson said. "It was nice to see them get into the scoring and it's a real positive for the team. It helps us to have more people get into the scoring so that the other teams can't concentrate on marking one player." The Quakers had been focusing their efforts in practice on getting more quality scoring opportunities after the meager output in the previous two games. It did not take long for the results to become apparent. Callaghan scored her first goal of the game seven minutes and 33 seconds into the first half when she intercepted a poor clearing attempt by a Temple defender and was able to fire the ball past the charging Owls goalkeeper. "We scored fairly early in the game which was nice," Penn coach Andy Nelson said. "When you get a goal that early it settles you down and then you can really start to play." The Quakers, however, seemed to play worse after scoring their first goal of the game. During the remainder of the first half, the offense struggled to create scoring opportunities and Penn was unable to find the net. It seemed as if the same offensive problems which had occurred all year were still happening. "We've had a habit of playing all defense after scoring goals," senior Jill Callaghan said. "There have been a lot of spurts where we play well but then we start giving the ball away too easily." The Quakers began the second half with a much more productive offensive attack. Penn was again controlling possession and creating scoring opportunities. The first opportunity which turned into a goal came six minutes into the half when Andrea Callaghan brought the ball up the left side of the field and crossed it to an open Zielske. Zielske then shot the ball past the goalie for the first goal of her Penn career. Fourteen minutes into the second half, Jill Callaghan received the ball just past the half-line and dribbled past a few defenders before crossing the ball to her twin sister Andrea. Andrea put the game away with her second goal of the day. "She usually knows where I'm standing on those crosses," Andrea Callaghan said. "That's the advantage of playing together our whole lives." Because of their comfortable three-goal lead, the Quakers were able to make many substitutions in the second half and 21 different players entered the game. One of those players was Taylor, who scored her goal in the final minutes of the game. Sophomore Sabrina Fenton gave Taylor a cross from the left side of the field. The freshman was able to head it past the goalie for the final goal of the game and the first of her collegiate career. "In the second half we got things together and people settled down," Jill Callaghan said. "We tried to do a lot more offensively and we had much better passing. "I don't know if we could have gotten away with playing the way we did against Harvard or another really good team but we did a better job of going forward with the ball. We can still do better, though." The defense recorded its third straight shutout without even yielding a quality shot on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Katherine Hunt officially saved four shots but the Penn goal was never seriously threatened by the Temple attack. "In the first half, Temple only got one weak shot on goal," Danielson said. "There were times in the second half when they got free kicks and good crosses and had the ball in dangerous positions but they still didn't have any strong shots on goal." Despite the four goals against Temple, Penn's offense remains a major question mark. It did its job against the sub-.500 Owls but a game against Ivy League powerhouse Harvard looms this weekend.