This time last week, Katy Cross was poised to break the Penn women's soccer career scoring record.
Cross has already amassed 64 points in two seasons while donning the Red and Blue. She is currently just four points shy of the record of 68 career points, which is held by Andrea Callaghan, who graduated in 1999.
Cross had her sights set on the scoring record last Wednesday night, when Penn was scheduled to take on Lehigh in Bethlehem. Sadly, Mother Nature got in the way.
Torrential rain led to the postponement of the game and Cross' chances to break the record.
The Quakers and Cross then shifted their attention to Homecoming weekend and a game against Brown.
Penn entered the Brown game on a skid, having not won in seven attempts, but the Red and Blue were able to demonstrate the skill that had garnered such high preseason expectations.
Penn dominated Saturday's contest, handing Brown a 2-0 defeat. The loss continued the Bears' winless streak in the Ivy League, dropping their record to 0-5-1.
Surprisingly, Cross, who has scored in nine of Penn's 15 games this season, did not contribute to the scoring in the Brown win.
The Quakers received its offense from two unusual sources: senior defender and co-captain Jen Valentine and sophomore midfielder Lydia Bojcun. Each scored her first goal of the season.
After earning the win over Brown, a rejuvenated Penn squad will again venture to Lehigh tonight.
Cross is still looking for those two elusive goals. She has already scored 13 goals this season and handed out four assists. Cross' 13 goals account for half of the Red and Blue's 26 on the season.
While Cross is well aware that she only needs four points to break the scoring record, she continues to downplay the importance of the feat.
"The record is a career scoring record so I still have a few years left to break it," Cross said. "It's not really a priority of mine right now."
The main priority of the Quakers at this point in the season is to build on last week's win over Brown.
"It has been a rough season," Cross said. "I just want to get through it with as many wins as possible like the rest of the team."
A win against Lehigh tonight would move the Quakers above .500 for the first time since Oct. 12, when the Quakers faltered in a 2-1 overtime loss to Princeton that dropped them to 5-5-1. Currently, the Quakers stand at 6-6-3 and 2-1-3 in the Ivy League.
Besides helping Penn's record, a win over Lehigh would inspire the Quakers for their final game of the season against Ivy League rival Dartmouth.
"We're still playing for pride right now," Cross said. "Everything we do now will help prepare us for Dartmouth and ultimately for next season."
Tonight's game could determine whether Cross will come back next season as Penn's all-time scoring leader or if she will still be chasing the record.
