Following a crushing loss to a bitter rival, the Penn women's soccer team proved its mettle by beating a determined opponent at home.
Unfortunately, its dreams of an Ivy League championship may have already been shattered.
The Quakers lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in double overtime at Yale last Saturday, but recovered to beat Lehigh, 3-1, at Rhodes Field yesterday.
Senior Katy Cross and junior Robin Watson provided all the offense Penn (8-5-2, 3-1-1 Ivy) would need against the Mountain Hawks (10-6-0). Cross opened the scoring with a strike from the right side in the 18th minute. Watson iced the game for the Red and Blue with a goal off of a corner kick in the 58th minute to put the Quakers up 3-1.
An own goal by Lehigh accounted for Penn's third goal.
"It was a good performance overall," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said in a press release. "We did what we needed to do on the offensive end, defended well and took advantage of the chances we created."
That the team was able to recover so quickly from a draining loss on the road is a testament to the team's perseverance and physical fitness.
Penn took the Elis to the brink Saturday, coming back from a two-goal deficit. But Yale's Mimi Macauley sent everyone home with her second goal of the game in the 102nd minute.
The Quakers had fought back after Macauley's first goal put the Elis (10-4-0, 3-2-0) up 2-0 at the 69:57 mark.
Less than two minutes later, the Red and Blue got on the scoreboard as Cross found Rachelle Snyder for the senior's sixth goal of the season. Ten minutes later, Cross did not need Snyder's help, as she sent home her 11th goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2.
"I was extremely proud of the way we came back into the game after falling behind 2-0," Ambrose said. "We showed a lot of character to come back. We had our chances and opportunities to win the game, but unfortunately it didn't go our way tonight."
With the loss, Penn fell a game and a half behind Princeton for first place in the Ivy League.
PENN 0 2 0 0 -- 2 Yale 1 1 0 1 -- 3
First Half -- 1. Karnes (Y) 33:52 (Berggen)
Second Half -- 2. Macauley (Y) 69:57 (Karnes); 3. Snyder (P) 71:47 (Cross, Katy); 4. Cross, Katy (P) 82:42 (Unassisted)
Second Overtime -- 5. Macauley (Y) 101.57 (Ortega)
Lehigh 1 0 -- 1 PENN 2 1 -- 3
First Half -- 1. Cross, Katy (P) 17:13 (Campbell); 2. Own Goal (P) 23:19 (Unassisted); 3. Pawlewicz (L) 28:54 (Unassisted)
Second Half -- 4. Watson (P) 57:31 (Bojcun)
