Field Hockey loses again in OT

Win. The word has echoed in the ears of the Penn field hockey team throughout their last two games, only to be drowned out in the final few minutes by a sudden death victory by the other team. This past Saturday, the word rung especially loud. That is, until with eight seconds left in overtime, Harvard scored a spirit-squashing goal to hand the Quakers their third overtime loss in as many games. "These losses are definitely a recurring theme. We are very frustrated and getting very upset about overtime losses," Penn sophomore Ali Corsi said. "We're hoping we can turn this around and not always be on the downside of the outcome." There is a lot for Penn (0-3, 0-1 Ivy League) to be frustrated about after this Saturday's game. The Quakers scored two goals in a row in the first half, starting the game strong with a 2-0 lead over the Crimson. However, in another recurring theme from past games, Penn could not hold onto the lead and Harvard managed to tie the game 2-2 before the end of the first half. "We let our guard down a little [after our first two goals,]" Penn junior co-captain Monique Horshaw said. "We couldn't get anything going. We needed to come back quickly, and we didn't do it." Neither side was able to pull ahead after the first-half scoring-spree; the second half ended as it had begun, with both sides even at two goals apiece. The overtime period mirrored the second half of the game, as both teams successfully countered the other's scoring attempts. Both Harvard and Penn had some near misses on goal, but with less than a minute on the clock, it looked like the game was going to head into a second overtime period. "I remember looking up at the clock with 25 seconds left. [Harvard] was bringing the ball down on the other side, and I said this could be it. Then they got a corner and all I saw was the ball go in the back of the cage," Corsi said. "I just felt that we had worked so hard in that overtime and it could have gone either way. They capitalized on it and we didn't capitalize." Overtime losses have been especially hard on the Quakers morale, since Penn knows that it is evenly matched with its opponents. Unlike other losses, where one might be able to point to a weakness in the defense or offense, the Quakers know that they have been playing a good game. They just haven't figured out how to pull ahead of their opponents when the stakes are at their highest. "Maybe in the back of our heads we need to get a win under our belt," junior Nikki Battiste said. "Going out there with two losses in overtime, we were trying to keep each other up as much as possible, but it's tough." Now that the number of overtime losses has been raised to three, it might be especially hard for the Quakers to raise each other's spirits. However, one should never doubt the power of anger in motivating a team that has come so close to victory three times in a row. "I think we're angry now, and we're going to use that anger to get something positive out of these games," Horshaw said. "We're angry enough that we're ready to win." News and Notes The Quakers resume action this Wednesday with a 3:30 p.m. game at Lafayette.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.