Penn scored two goals last night. Temple scored one.
And somehow, the Quakers lost.
The Penn field hockey team had two goals called back last night by the referees in a 1-0 loss to cross-town rival Temple.
As such, the Red and Blue -- who dominated every facet of the game, including outshooting the Owls -- suffered their seventh loss of the season.
The two goals that came to be non-goals arose in a very peculiar set of circumstances. The first time the Quakers beat Temple goalie Krin Conroy off of a corner opportunity. But the goal was immediately disallowed by the refs.
In the second half, with the game still knotted at zero, Penn once again beat Conroy off a corner.
This time, however, the goal was not quickly discredited. There was actually no indication that an infraction of any type had been committed. Then, Conroy got involved.
The Temple goalie came running out from the net to plead her case. She admittedly argued her position that a foul had occurred.
Finally, the referee who had been at the far end of the field came in. There was a discussion about the goal, and it was eventually disallowed and decided that the ball had hit the back of a Penn players leg before going into the net.
"The girl who's leg it hit said it did actually hit her," Penn's Anna Mitchell said. "But they missed the call on the first one. That was a goal."
With both Penn goals now disallowed, Temple was given one more chance. And they took full advantage of it.
Senior Virginia Gonzalez gave the Owls the only goal they needed at the 60:57 mark. Gonzalez got the ball off a corner and ripped a laser past Penn freshman goalie Amanda Jacobs.
Penn got a few more chances before the final buzzer sounded but was unable to sneak a third shot past Conroy.
After the game, players and coaches alike were clearly dejected by the unfortunate outcome.
Though last night was Penn's third-consecutive heartbreaking defeat, there were still some positives to be taken from the contest.
The Quakers' defense, which had given up seven goals over the past two games, was very strong. They held Temple to only 11 shots and just the lone, late goal.
The Red and Blue will be looking to snap their current three-game losing skid when they play the Syracuse Orangewomen at home on Saturday.
Their 7-5 record is misleading, as the Orangewomen will present Penn with a difficult challenge. Several of their five losses have come at the hands of teams ranked in the national top-25.
The Quakers will look to use their recent hard luck losses as a source of motivation heading into this weekends big showdown.
"We've been using these games as motivation to work harder in practice," Mitchell said. "We're pumped to be play a team that was nationally ranked."
