Liz Lorelli keeps making things happen for the Penn field hockey team.
The junior tallied her fifth game-winning goal this season -- her fourth in the last five games -- to give the Quakers a 2-1 victory over a defensive-minded Temple squad that had not allowed a goal since Sept. 27.
Lorelli's goal -- which gave her 12 on the year, tying her for fourth all-time in Penn goals in a season -- came off a pass from sophomore midfielder Lea Salese with just two minutes remaining in yesterday's game.
"Their defense was really tough, I could barely get open," Lorelli said. "Lea somehow found me in the circle, and I tapped it in."
The win gave the Quakers a perfect 5-0 record against members of the Philadelphia Six, making Penn the first team to go undefeated since the league officially formed last year.
"Before last year, not every team played each other, so that makes us the first team to beat all our local rivals," Penn coach Val Cloud said.
The Quakers also extended their winning streak to five games -- their longest since 1992 -- and now sit three games over .500, with five to play.
"This is the biggest victory in a long time for us," Cloud said. "We only need two more games to guarantee a winning record."
Both teams' defenses dominated a scoreless first half that saw only five shots attempted.
The Owls (7-7) got on the board six minutes into the second half when senior midfielder Haley Dervinis scored an unassisted goal
With the score at 1-0, Temple goalie Erin Conroy was eyeing a Temple record after posting three consecutive shutouts -- all in 1-0 victories -- heading into yesterday's game.
But the Quakers had other plans.
Senior Marianne Rogers tied the game for the Quakers with 17 minutes remaining, after she received a pass from Lorelli and slammed it past Conroy for her first goal of the season.
The Quakers defense, behind freshman goalie Elizabeth Schlossberg, once again played strong down the stretch to put Penn in a position to win at the end. Even though the Owls barraged Penn with 11 second-half shots, Schlossberg came up with seven saves after the break to keep the game tied until Lorelli's goal.
"Going undefeated against our local rivals was really big for us," Lorelli said. "A lot of girls are from the area, and it was nice to defeat all the teams that are in their region."
