After last weekend's disappointing overtime loss to Dartmouth, the Penn women's soccer team is hungry.
It showed it in a dominating victory at Drexel on Tuesday.
It showed it in practice during the week.
And the Quakers hope to show it again tomorrow, when they host Cornell (2-2-2, 1-0-0 Ivy League) in an important Ancient Eight contest.
"This game could determine how our Ivy League season will go," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said. "There's such a storied history between every team in the Ivy League, and every game is a battle."
In their first Ivy contest of the season last weekend, Penn (5-1-1, 0-1-0) lost to Dartmouth, 2-1, on a penalty kick after a disputed handball call in overtime.
The Quakers responded to their first loss of the season by grabbing their fifth shutout of the season with a convincing win over the Dragons, 2-0.
Ambrose, however, thinks his young Penn team still has plenty of room for improvement.
"We think we really had a good team game against Drexel," Ambrose said. "[But] we still need to move the ball across the field faster, and we need to finish better."
The Quakers have had a problem with finishing all season long. Their lack of punch around the net kept a mediocre La Salle team in the game earlier in the season, and it cost them a win against the Big Green, as Penn scored three minutes into the game but did not not reach the back of the net again.
Despite the Red and Blue's troubles, the offensive machine of freshmen Rachelle Snyder (seven goals, one assist) and Katy Cross (five goals, four assists) has been dominant on the offensive end. With the Penn single-season points record at 26, both are in good shape to crack that record in just their first year of collegiate athletics.
Nevertheless, Ambrose is quick to point out that it is not just those two providing the offensive push.
"We've got the two freshmen who are getting all the recognition, but it is really a team effort," Ambrose said. "The success of Rachelle and Katy has been because of our team's effort."
That team effort has been powered by Penn's stellar defense, which has only allowed six goals all season.
"I've played better than I ever expected to," Penn freshman fullback Jessica Woodward said. "We're mostly inexperienced, but I think we've made up for it in talent."
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