F. Hockey: Lafayette slips by in final minute

When the final whistle blew at the end of the Penn field hockey game against Lafayette last night, the scoreboard at Franklin Field still read :05.

It was a cruel malfunction for the Quakers -- who were wishing they could have more time on the clock, still in disbelief that the game was really over.

Only 46 seconds earlier, Lafayette forward Jennifer Stone stunned the Quakers and the home crowd as she put the game-winning goal past Penn goalie Amanda Jacobs, giving Lafayette a 2-1 lead that prevented the game from going into overtime.

Stone -- who leads the nation with 10 goals on the season -- finished a deflected shot from forward Meredith Hahn.

Jacobs "had to go down for the ball when it was getting shot from the right," Stone said. "That left an opening toward the cage."

The goal gave the Leopards (4-3) their third consecutive come-from-behind victory and a strong chance of being ranked in next week's National Field Hockey Association poll, after receiving 49 votes this week.

But for the Quakers (1-3, 0-1), the goal meant another heartbreaking loss after controlling the offensive tempo for most of the game.

"I would have liked to add up all the minutes we spent in front of their net," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "We had plenty of chances to score."

With the score knotted at one, the Quakers could not take advantage of five penalty corners and failed to put the ball in the cage.

"We had the opportunities in the end, we just weren't finishing," junior forward Liz Lorelli said. "We needed to score a bunch of goals against their goalkeeper."

Penn overcame the absence of senior forward Jackie Lange for much of the game, as she went down with a left ankle injury just four minutes into the contest.

"We will find out tomorrow the extent of her injury," Cloud said.

Before the loss of their co-captain, Lorelli gave the Quakers the opening lead on the very first possession of the game. Penn won the first face-off and Lorelli rifled a shot from inside the circle just 37 seconds into the game.

"I was going to turn and pass, but [Lafayette's] goalie gave me a wide open shot, so it was really easy," Lorelli said.

Penn sophomore goalie Jacobs helped the Quakers' defense preserve their 1-0 lead into halftime.

The Red and Blue held the potent Leopards offense to just five shots in the first half.

But then things started to unravel for Penn.

The Leopards evened the score just two minutes into the second period when Stone fed a pass to Hahn, who drilled a shot past diving goalie Elizabeth Schlossberg -- who came in for Jacobs in the second half.

Three minutes later, Schlossberg left the game after a collision in front of the cage. The freshman goalie appeared shaken up, but Cloud said that she is not seriously injured.

With Jacobs back in, the Penn offense controlled the ball on Lafayette's side of the field. However, the Quakers could not get another shot past Lafayette goalie Casey Devlin, who ranked fifth in the nation in saves going into last night's game.

The Quakers had a key opportunity with 7:40 left, when sophomore Cara Calahan and Lorelli were left with an open cage, but they were unable to convert on the play.

"We definitely had the fire down there," Lorelli said. "But we just couldn't get another goal when it counted."

Jacobs recorded six saves for the Red and Blue and Schlossberg stopped two shots before she had to leave.

"I hope our team at least learns something from games like this," Cloud said. "We're getting pretty tired of coming close but not getting the win."

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