Although there will be no Ivy League title for the Penn women's soccer team this season, the Quakers are not simply playing out the string.
That spirit has led to the Quakers (8-5-3, 2-3-1 Ivy) playing some of their best soccer of the season, including Saturday's 2-1 win over Brown (9-4-1, 3-3) in Providence, R.I. Penn now has its first two-game winning streak since early October and enters this weekend's Homecoming showdown against archrival Princeton with heads held high.
"Before the game we talked about persistence, we talked about perseverance and courage," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said. "They rose to the occasion."
Although Penn outshot Brown, 12-8, in the first half, the Bears scored first, with Kathryn Moos putting the home side up 1-0 in the 29th minute.
The Red and Blue scored the equalizer in the 37th minute on a well-executed set piece. Junior midfielder Lydia Bojcun sent a free kick from 35 yards out to the near post, which classmate Katy Cross -- who set the Penn single-game points record against Lehigh on Thursday with four goals and an assist -- flicked back into the box. Sophomore defender Robin Watson met the ball and volleyed it in from close range to make it 1-1.
With 37 seconds to play in the first half, the Quakers took the lead. Junior defender Jessica Woodward launched the attack from the right side, finding midfielder Jenna Linden. The sophomore linked up with Cross to get the ball down the field and then fired home her first goal of the season from 18 yards.
"It was a great goal, a great piece of combination play," Ambrose said.
Linden praised the midfield for setting up the scoring chance.
"We've been working a lot on movement off the ball, and it showed in that play," she said.
And although Linden admitted to having "a tendency to hold onto the ball a little too long," on this play, she "just decided to hit it early... I guess it worked."
The second half was played with a greater emphasis on defense. Brown outshot Penn, 7-3, but Ambrose believes that the numbers don't tell the whole story.
"Maybe two of [Brown's shots] were in the 18-yard box," he said. "They did have good possession but we were very, very organized defensively."
Although the shot count finished even at 15-15, the foul total did not. Penn was whistled 19 times to Brown's eight. Ambrose did his best to be diplomatic but did describe the officiating as "inconsistent."
Bojcun, whose midfield play was another highlight of the afternoon, said that the Quakers "did a tremendous job of dealing with that adversity."
