F. Hockey drops second straight

The Quakers could not find the net last night as Lafayette won 1-0. It was a disappointing night for the Penn field hockey team last night as the Quakers lost to Lafayette 1-0 at Franklin Field. With only 58 seconds remaining in the first half, the Leopards' Kellee Salber scored the only goal of the game, sending Penn to its second consecutive defeat. Before the game started, there was a fair amount of talk concerning whether Lafayette would be able to adjust to playing on artificial turf rather than their usual grass. Coming into last night, Lafayette's only game on turf was when it played at Columbia. However, as last night's final score shows, the turf did not seem to inhibit the Leopards at all. During the first half, the Red and Blue (1-3) dominated the play. Unfortunately for Penn, a goal-mouth scramble at the 13-minute mark could not be converted into a goal, which set the tone for the rest of the game. According to Penn coach Val Cloud, last night's game was "disappointing and certainly a game we could have won." The Leopards (7-0) were quicker to the ball and counter-attacked very effectively, which blocked possible routes for Penn to score. The Quakers did play well, though. Their problem lay in front of the goal where the team simply failed to convert its offensive pressure into goals. The penalty corners won in the first half produced hurried scrambles which ended with saves by Lafayette goalie Amy Cohen. Until Penn manages to find the back of the net, this may well prove to be a problem that will dog the team for a few games yet. The domination by Penn -- particularly Courtney Martin who earned Ivy League Honor Roll accolades this week after she scored six points -- was all for naught. Salber's goal arrived at a critical time -- in the final minute before the half --which meant the Penn players' heads were inevitably going to drop as they met for their team talk. Lafayette, by contrast, was buzzing and came out for the second half ready to inflict more damage. The Quakers defense, along with goalie Alison Friedman, had to intercept passes in order to keep themselves on level terms, and Friedman made several important saves until Penn found its feet again. "We need to keep more possession of the ball, instead of hitting it to them," Cloud said. Forward Maria Karas, who had a solid game playing alongside Martin, was also disappointed with the game's result. "We had a lot of opportunities but just could not finish it off," Karas said. With the win last night, the Leopards still have not lost this season. "My players love coming to play at Franklin Field under the floodlights," Lafayette coach Ann Gold said. "This game has a lot of tradition for us and its great to win here." Gold dispelled any concern about the turf for the Leopards players. They are currently trying to get their own artificial turf field and this result will merely serve to improve their case for one. On Sunday, Penn has the daunting task of playing away at Cornell. Both Karas and senior defender Brooke Jenkins said this forthcoming game would be huge. The Quakers, who lost to Dartmouth this past weekend, are looking forward to playing another Ivy League foe and having a chance to get their season back on track after these defeats. As Cloud said, only practice is going to improve Penn's situation. The Red and Blue have lost three out of four so far. Cloud also said that another possibility might be to make some lineup changes to get new faces on the field.