Considering that its next two games are against the top two teams in the Ivy League, the Penn women's lacrosse team knew it was facing a must-win game in Boston Saturday afternoon.
And the Quakers were up to the challenge. Behind sophomore Chrissy Muller's goal with seven seconds left in the first overtime period, Penn beat Harvard, 11-10, keeping its hopes for an Ivy League title alive.
It certainly has not been easy for the 15th-ranked Red and Blue (6-4, 3-1 Ivy) so far this season, but Karin Brower's team has gotten it done in the clutch -- the win over the Crimson (2-7, 0-2) puts the Quakers' record at 4-0 in one-goal games.
And while this game ended up as a wild affair, it did not start out that way.
It took just over 12 minutes for the first goal to be scored -- it was Penn's Ali Ryan doing the honors -- but after that, the longest time without a goal was 5:52, spanning from four minutes left in the first half until 1:52 into the second.
Those two goals ended a 4-1 scoring run by the Quakers, and gave them a 5-3 lead. The second goal was also the third of the game and 16th of the season for freshman Rachael Manson, giving her both a hat trick and, momentarily, the team lead in goals.
But the Crimson soon battled back to tie the score, and then things really heated up.
Just over two minutes after Harvard's Natalie Curtis beat Penn goalkeeper Liz Lorelli to even the match with 26:43 remaining, the Quakers reeled off four goals in a three-minute span, two of which completed Ryan's hat trick and vaulted the junior above Manson on Penn's season scoring list.
But the Crimson responded with another run, beginning just 35 seconds after Katie Spofford had given the Quakers their largest lead of the game, 9-5.
During the next eight minutes, Harvard rattled off four straight to tie the game back up, and the Crimson looked poised to pull the upset.
But Penn hung in, absorbing the Crimson's best punch and then retaliating.
Sophomore Karen Jann scored on a free position shot to give the Quakers the lead back with 9:28 to go.
Harvard responded with a Liz Gamble goal to tie the score once more with 4:36 remaining.
That set the stage for Muller's heroics in overtime.
Crimson goalie Caitlin Cahow had stopped two shots in the final minutes of the first OT session before the sophomore picked up a rebound and scored the game winner.
The victory keeps the Quakers in the Ivy League race, a game behind Dartmouth and Princeton in the loss column.
Coincidentally, the two teams atop the Ancient Eight standings are Penn's next two opponents. Both games are at Franklin Field and are in the next week.
First up are the Tigers on Wednesday night. They have won 11 straight games over Penn.
The Big Green comes to town on Saturday.
After four road games in 11 days, the Quakers probably are excited to be home again, but when they arrive at Franklin Field they will face the toughest week of their year.
