The Penn women's soccer team will play for redemption tonight as it travels to Easton, Pa. to take on Lehigh.
The struggling Penn team enters the game having not won in their last seven tries. Since their last win -- a 5-1 victory over Drexel on Sept. 24 -- the Quakers (5-6-3 overall) have gone 0-3-4, hardly the caliber of play one would expect from a team that began the season ranked in the top-25.
The Quakers have yet another chance to end their futile streak this evening when an equally beleaguered Lehigh team welcomes the Red and Blue to Bethlehem.
The Engineers enter tonight's contest on a five-game winless streak of their own, including four losses and a single 0-0 draw against Bucknell last Wednesday.
In last year's meeting, Penn took it to the Engineers, emerging with a 3-1 victory.
Similar to last year, Lehigh's offense has struggled so far this season, scoring only seven goals while allowing 28. The Engineers (4-11-1 overall) have been outshot 204-98 this season.
The Engineers' impotent semblance of an offense is led by senior forward Lauren Day, who -- as Lehigh's leading scorer -- has netted two goals and handed out one assist.
Sophomore midfielder Jocelyn Helwig is Lehigh's second-leading scorer this season, having earned three points on one goal and one assist.
While Helwig and Days' numbers are hardly those which makes opponents' shudder, the Penn offense -- a juggernaut in 2001 -- has remained steady this year.
The Quakers have scored 24 goals on the year, while conceding 26.
Sophomore forward Katy Cross carries most of the offensive duties on her capable right foot.
Cross scored Penn's only goal on Saturday in the Quakers' 1-1 tie with Yale.
The goal moved Cross two points closer to Penn's all-time scoring record of 68 points. Cross has earned 64 points in her career, including 30 so far this season on 13 goals and four assists.
At 5-6-3 overall and 1-1-3 in the Ivy League the Quakers' chances of repeating as Ivy League champions have been dashed.
Tonight's game against Lehigh serves as the final non-conference game of the season for both teams. Lehigh will end its season on Saturday at Holy Cross.
The Quakers will finish up their season on consecutive Saturdays against Brown and Dartmouth, respectively.
Thus far this season, Lehigh has played two Ivy League opponents, losing both. The Engineers fell to Princeton, 3-0, on Sept. 18 and lost to Columbia, 2-1, on Oct. 11.
Against those two teams, Penn went 0-1-1, with both games decided in overtime. The Quakers fell to Princeton, 2-1, and tied Columbia, 1-1.
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