Blowout win for W. Soccer

Moments after Penn women's soccer coach Darren Ambrose emphasized converting corner kicks into goals, the Quakers made their coach proud.

In the second minute of yesterday's game against Drexel, Penn sophomore Lauren Bome headed a Jenna Linden corner into the net to shatter the scoreless tie.

"We had just talked in the locker room about going off the corner because coach told us how we've had 30 corner kicks this season and we haven't scored on one of them," Bome said of her first goal of her collegiate career.

The score was the first of many for the Red and Blue (5-2), who snuffed out the Dragons' fire, 5-1.

"That was probably the best full game we've put together," Ambrose said. "Drexel isn't as strong as one or two good teams we've played, but you still have to play well against teams that aren't as strong as Princeton or JMU.

"You've still got to be able to score goals -- I thought we did that."

The Quakers scored four goals in the first half. Following Bome's goal were a pair by leading scorer Katy Cross. She now has 22 points on the season, with nine goals and four assists.

With 12:15 left before intermission, Penn's Carolyn Cross notched her third goal of the season.

The Dragons (1-7) flew out of the gates in the second period as Noel Niederkorn scored in the 50th minute.

Fearing a second half collapse like the one they suffered last week against La Salle, the Quakers responded. Devon Sibole took a Linden pass and knocked it past Drexel goalkeeper Sara Peranteau.

Peranteau was later taken off on a stretcher after taking a ball to the face and landing hard on her back. She was replaced in net by Shallen Marzi.

Even prior to Sibole's goal, Linden was the catalyst for the offense, recording three assists.

"Jenna had a brilliant through-ball," Sibole said. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Jenna could really take more credit for that than I could."

Penn's five goals matched its season high. The barrage was the result of a newly implemented strategy designed to spread the ball around the field instead of relying on the forwards.

"We started using our outside backs," Penn captain Jen Valentine said. "That showed good signs because we haven't been using them."

There were "nice combinations and switching the ball," she said. "A lot of things we addressed before the game started, we put into action on the field."

Valentine was not the only one to notice the difference. Sibole claimed that she was a beneficiary of the fresh approach, which emphasized lateral movement over a traditional north-south attack.

"The only reason I think I had a strong game was because we really utilized the outsides," she said. "I think that brought out a lot of aspects of everyone's game.

"We usually go right up the middle and spin off and look back, so we just brought a new aspect of it. We capitalized on it. I mean, five goals -- I was stoked."

Through seven games, however, the Quakers still have been inconsistent in converting chances to points.

On Friday against Cal -- the No. 4 team in the nation -- Penn cannot afford so many missed opportunities.

The problem "is not chemistry," Ambrose said, "it's just an individual thing. It's individuals who are in that situation at that time [who] need to focus and concentrate a little bit more.

"The games [when] we didn't score, we lost. That was early in the year when we hadn't had time to develop much of an attacking rhythm -- now we have."

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