Field Hockey falls in overtime

The bad breaks just seem to keep on coming where the Penn field hockey team is concerned. For the second game in a row, the Quakers lost in sudden death overtime, 5-4, at Villanova last night. "We went into the game pumped and ready to go," Penn senior co-captain Amna Nawaz said. "It's just so frustrating because I thought everyone played really well. It's not like we had any major holes." The momentum shifted back and forth all evening, with the Wildcats striking first. However, the Quakers quickly evened the score with a goal by sophomore Ali Corsi, her second in as many games. "We could tell Villanova wasn't expecting us to be that aggressive," Penn junior co-captain Monique Horshaw said. "They were definitely back on their heels at the beginning of the game." The tit-for-tat style continued as sophomore Kylee Jakobowski's goal, also her second of the year, gave the Quakers a 2-1 edge. That lead was quickly erased, as the Wildcats answered with a goal of their own less than a minute later. "I was proud of our ability to keep putting the pressure on. We were able to bounce back and even it up," Horshaw said. With goals from sophomore Mandy Doherty and junior Maria Karas, the Red and Blue built a 4-2 lead. But once again, the Wildcats answered with two goals of their own, sending the game into overtime and erasing what looked to be a solid Penn lead. With 13:22 left in overtime, Nicole Dimaggio scored her second goal of the evening to secure the Wildcats final margin of victory. "Looking back, we could have taken care of the ball better, but overall, I just don't know how we didn't win," Horshaw said. In her first collegiate start, freshman goalkeeper Carrie Wilhelm made 20 saves. "She just did a phenomenal job for us tonight," Nawaz said. Despite the disappointing outcome, the Quakers are continuing to gain necessary experience, and their growth was evident even compared to last Friday's game against St. Joseph's. "We had more opportunities this time, and we were able to capitalize on them," Horshaw said. Even the general attitude of the team has continued to improve. "We went in with just a more confident feeling than we did last Friday," Nawaz said. In an informal postgame team meeting, the Quakers decided to take what they could from their loss and simply move on. "We sat down after the game and said we got it out of our system now," Nawaz said. "We have to chalk them up to being experience builders, put it behind us, and look ahead." The next challenge comes this Saturday, when the Quakers face Ivy rival Harvard at 12:30 p.m. "I think we're lucky in timing, in that we have a big Ivy game coming up against Harvard to keep us focused and motivated," Nawaz said. Frustrated by two heartbreaking endings, the Quakers will use their quickly amassing game experience to attempt to jumpstart their season against the Crimson and finally put an end to their recent run of tough losses.

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