Vanessa Scotto trotted onto the the field after halftime in last year's women's soccer game between Penn and Delaware. Down, 4-3, the Quakers benched goalkeeper Anna Halse-Stumberg -- who allowed four goals in as many shots -- and supplanted her with Scotto.
The substitute netminder's entry spelled doom for the Blue Hens. Metaphorically speaking, Delaware's goose was cooked once Scotto entered the game.
Registering three saves, Scotto shut out Delaware in the second half. Penn, however, continued to light up the board to win the game, 6-4.
Today, the Quakers (5-5-1 overall, 1-1-1 Ivy) are at Delaware (6-5-2, 2-2-1) with the hopes that they can gain some momentum for the home stretch of their season.
"Against Delaware, you never know what's going to happen," Scotto said. "Their field is really uneven and bumpy, so they have a pretty strong homefield advantage."
The Blue Hens' most dangerous player is Caryn Blood. She has five goals and four assists to lead the team in both categories. Last year, she registered an assist against the Quakers.
Blood is joined by fellow forward Fran Termini, who has scored on four of her 36 shots this season.
"Our defense is coming together really well," Scotto said confidently. "I don't think there will be any problems stopping them offensively."
Penn coach Darren Ambrose evaluated Delaware as a team with very good forwards and midfielders, but with an inexperienced backfield.
The Blue Hens' style, according to him, is similar that of Penn -- both line up in a 4-3-3 formation.
"We're going to try to expose some of their weaknesses," Penn midfielder Lydia Bojcun said. "We're going to attack through our midfield players and forwards.
"We want to create some opportunities and finish on as many of them as we can."
Although the player-by-player matchups seemingly favor the Quakers, appearances can be deceiving.
"We're not a favorite in this game," Ambrose said. "We don't have the reputation this year that we had last year.
"Teams are prepared to play us this year. We have a bullseye on our backs."
The contest against Delaware comes at an opportune time for the Red and Blue. After tying Harvard and losing to Princeton, Penn sees this non-league game as a chance to regroup before a barrage of Ancient Eight opponents.
"We played better in the second half against Princeton," Bojcun said. "So we're going to come out [against Delaware] and continue to play the way we do in practice all week.
"Hopefully, this time, we can look for a better result."
