After Penn junior Alan Eberstein won the opening faceoff in the first overtime, he sprinted into Princeton territory poised to score the game-winner -- only to lose control of the ball.
But luckily for him, the Tigers failed to gain control, as the ball bounced toward a Penn attacker.
Junior Luke Dixson picked up the ball and charged toward the net. He had a breakaway against Princeton's goalie, no defender in sight.
It was the type of "lucky break" that Penn coach Brian Voelker has been talking about all season long. It was the golden opportunity the Quakers had been lacking.
And they squandered it.
Dixson's shot flew over the net, and despite Penn controlling the majority of the two overtime periods, Princeton emerged with a hard-fought 6-5 victory at Franklin Field, their 16th in a row over the Quakers.
Princeton opened the game with a goal in the first minute, but Eberstein answered with his third goal of the season for the Quakers with just 9.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
Penn took its first lead of the game at 2-1 on a goal by freshman Garrett Blomquist. But Princeton (1-5, 1-1 Ivy) scored three unanswered goals to close out the second quarter, securing a 4-2 lead at halftime.
The relentless Quakers mounted an impressive second-half comeback to erase Princeton's two-goal lead. Nonetheless, Penn (1-8, 0-4 ) failed to capitalize on a number of good looks, and in doing so the Quakers extended their losing skid to seven.
"We're really disappointed," Voelker said. "We just couldn't get it done when we needed to."
Tigers senior captain Jason Doneger extended that streak to 16 by scoring the game-winner with less than two minutes left in the second overtime.
Great players often elevate their games in crucial moments, and Doneger -- who has struggled early on this season -- certainly stepped up to the occasion.
"Doneger hasn't scored too many goals this season, and I prayed that today wouldn't be the day he got back on track," Voelker said. "Then he went and scored the winner against us."
The Tigers, who have won ten consecutive Ivy League championships, opened the season with a 9-8 loss to Yale.
The victory over Penn provided Princeton with its first Ivy League victory, while the Quakers fell to 0-4 in conference play.
"Hopefully it will be a momentum booster," Doneger said. "It's do or die at this point.
"It's a good win, and hopefully we can build on it."
For Penn, it was another gutsy performance, but a disappointing result.
"As a coaching staff, all we can ask for is that our guys play hard," Voelker said. "And they certainly did that today."
After trailing 5-3 in the third quarter, the Quakers' Mark Becker and James Riordan scored unanswered goals to send the game into overtime.
Penn's defense also limited the Tigers to one goal in the final 30 minutes of regulation.
"I don't think we played that well in the first half," Voelker said. "We went into the locker room and I got on the guys a little bit and they came out and really responded.
"They did everything except score the winning goal."
