Senior Day and Halloween brought tricks for the Brown field hockey team and treats for the Penn field hockey team.
Penn seniors Liz Lorelli and Jessica Kaylor are proving to be quite an effective offensive tandem. The two seniors each scored goals while the Quakers' defense slammed the door on the Bears in a 2-0 Penn victory Sunday at Franklin Field.
Lorelli and Kaylor have accounted for Penn's entire offensive output the past two games against Yale and Brown (5-9, 2-4 Ivy).
That is not to disparage the efforts of the Penn defense. The Quakers (12-4, 5-1) have shut out their past six opponents (eight overall this season), and have not allowed a goal since Oct. 2.
"It was not the prettiest of games," Penn coach Val Cloud said of the Brown game. "But we got the job done. Just a good team defense playing together; that's the key to victory."
Kaylor put the Quakers on the board early with her second goal of the season. The Greensburg, Pa., native has recently moved from her usual position of defender to midfielder, and has proven her offensive effectiveness in the latter half of this season.
"Coach has been putting me in more often at midfield," Kaylor said. "The defense does not get much of the credit, but when you get to midfield you get a lot of opportunities."
The Quakers' defense was not fooled by Brown's many surges upfield. Brown was only able to manage one shot on goal the entire game.
"After playing for a little while, we realized what they were doing," junior defender Kelly McFadden said. "They were making really hard drives upfield. [We] gave them a little more space and started to take things in the backfield. We just came up with interceptions on their longballs."
Lorelli sealed the Bears' fate with the second goal of the game off an assist from junior Lea Salese with 11:41 left to play.
The Greenwich, Conn., native was recently selected by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association to participate in the annual Division I North/South Senior All-Star Game Nov. 20 at Wake Forest.
Even though the overall team effort was very strong, Cloud noted some points for improvement that Penn will have to address before taking on Princeton for the Ivy title next Friday.
"Probably the one area that is still tender is corners," Cloud said. "It's a big win now. We're playing for the championship next Friday against a very difficult Princeton team.
"We need to deliver the ball faster to our players, and our teammates need to get to the ball quicker to allow that to happen," he continued. "Hopefully we'll be able to execute corners on the turf up there. Of course, that is a problem for Princeton too."
Penn was unable to capitalize on any of its eight penalty corner opportunities against the Bears.
Penn, Harvard and Princeton are all tied atop the Ivy League standings, each with one conference loss. The Red and Blue's fate is in their own hands, as the Quakers can claim at least a share of the league title with a win over the Tigers.
"We need to go into the game respecting them, not fearing them," Kaylor said. "We need to be confident, but not overconfident. We just need to play our game. We have a really strong team. We have a lot of confidence in each other."
Brown 0 0 -- 0PENN 1 1 -- 2
First Half -- Kaylor (P) 9:01 (unassisted)
Second Half -- Lorelli (P) 58:19 (Salese)
