W. Soccer earns a split in new xoach's first weekend

The Quakers lost Saturday to Pittsburgh but bounced back to beat Maryland yesterday. The Quakers (1-1) lost 1-0 to the Panthers Friday in their season opener. The lone goal came on a penalty kick in the final five minutes after a questionable holding call was made against Penn junior Ashley Kjar. Kjar was cited for holding an opponent's shorts inside the penalty box although it appeared that both players were initiating contact. Pittsburgh's Kirstin Gellatly then sent the short penalty kick past Penn freshman Katherine Hunt for the only goal of the game. "I think it was a sad call," said Penn coach Andy Nelson, who was making his debut as coach. "It was worse because a minute later one of their players handled the ball at the other end of the field but nothing was called. But that's just the way these games go sometimes." The loss was especially difficult since the Quakers had outplayed Pittsburgh by controlling possession and outshooting the Panthers 12-8. Penn just could not take advantage of its opportunities. With the opening-day jitters out of the way, the Red and Blue's next task was to face a Maryland team fresh off losses against nationally ranked UCLA, USC and Baylor. Yesterday, the Quakers did not control time of possession against the Terrapins and were outshot by a whopping 18-5 margin. But this time Penn was able to capitalize on the scoring chances it received in a hard-earned 2-1 victory. The first goal of the contest came at the 8:42 mark and was a result of the efforts of three different Quakers. Junior Angela Konstantaras received a pass by the sideline and crossed the ball to junior Kelli Toland, who was positioned in the middle of the field. Toland found Andrea Callaghan open 15 yards away from the net, where she sent the game's first goal past Maryland goalie Ali Wolff. "I felt that we were really connecting out there today," Toland said. "We proved that we could play well against a good team." For the Quakers, it was all they could handle to hold on to their 1-0 lead for the first 30 minutes of the second half. Penn was outshot by Maryland 11-2 in the second half and was unable to establish its own attacking game. The Quakers were also struggling to defend against Terrapins throw-ins. Maryland was throwing the ball 40 yards into the field of play from out of bounds; the throw-ins were described by Nelson as being more effective than corner kicks. At the 78:10 mark, the Terrapins finally beat the Penn defense and tied the game on a fluky goal. A Maryland shot hit the post and bounced away from the middle of the field. The rebound was gathered by a Terrapins attacker who crossed the ball to the middle, where it bounced off a Penn defender and went into the net. With the game suddenly tied at one and Maryland controlling possession, that one goal could have been deadly for the Quakers. Four minutes later, however, Penn had its own scoring opportunity. Several Quakers were attacking in the box when the ball was cleared by a Maryland defender. Junior fullback Shannon Porter intercepted the clear just in front of the half-line, where she found herself wide open. The veteran Penn defender took a few steps before drilling the ball into the upper left part of the net from 35 yards out. The goal gave the Quakers a 2-1 lead at 82:01, an advantage they would not relinquish. "I was pretty psyched since this was my first goal ever and it gave us the lead," Porter said. "This was a big-time win for us today." Porter, Toland and Andrea Callaghan were all selected to the All-Tournament team. Senior co-captain Deane Kocivar-Norbury was named the tournament's Defensive MVP. According to Nelson, it was Kocivar-Norbury and the rest of the defensive unit who were most impressive this weekend. "Our back four did very well for us in both games," Nelson said. "Our defenders were very well-organized and Katherine Hunt played a very solid tournament for us."