The Daily Pennsylvanian
Ten minutes into the second half of Penn's home opener against Lafayette, sophomore Kara Bolger accomplished exactly what is expected of every field hockey attack.
"Basically, Coach said, 'you were in the right place at the right time,'" Bolger admitted. "And that is exactly what happened."
Bolger's goal, the first of her collegiate career, helped lift the Quakers to a 2-0 win over the Leopards on Franklin Field last night.
Four road games, including a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Harvard, the 2004 Ivy co-champions, preceded yesterday's contest.
So, when the Quakers (3-2, 0-1 Ivy) took the field against their Pennsylvania rivals, they had a single goal in mind: score early.
Senior co-captain Lea Salese helped Penn accomplish its goal when she sent the ball past the Lafayette goalie on a penalty corner play just six minutes into the first half.
"Our objective was to score early and we did," coach Val Cloud said.
Salese's goal staked the Quakers to an early lead; though Penn outshot the Leopards (2-2) 5-3 in the first half, the score held at 1-0 until Bolger's point early in the second half.
Led by Bolger and Salese, the Penn attack proved that it could successfully seize offensive opportunities. Just as importantly, though, the Quakers defense stepped up to earn the team its first shutout since the opening win at Rutgers.
"We still have a pretty good core with [Liz Schlossberg] in goal and Melissa [Black] at sweeper," senior defender Kelly McFadden said.
"It is so solid in the backfield. It has been a little disappointing giving up some goals in the last few games after the defense that we had last year. So that is why today felt good -- to get another shutout. And I know we can continue to do that in the season."
The Penn defense held Lafayette to just eight shots, and goalie Liz Schlossberg recorded two saves.
The Quakers also dominated play in both their offensive and defensive circles, forcing a total of five penalty corners -- including the one that led to Salese's goal -- and allowing Lafayette only two.
"At the Harvard game we couldn't get anything into the circle on the offense," Bolger said. "Today was the complete opposite. Everyone was on the pads, on the ball. ... In the circle we were making things happen."
The team was not only excited by the success of its efforts on both ends of the field, but also by the prospect of finally competing at home in front of fans, friends and family.
"It is just so exciting to be on our own turf in our stadium," McFadden said. "The whole atmosphere here is awesome. We've been on the road for four games so being back definitely got us pumped up for today's game."
The Quakers will step back onto their home turf on Saturday, when they take on Cornell. A win would bring Penn's Ivy record to 1-1, relieving some of the disappointment of last weekend's loss at Harvard and helping the team back in the race for the league title.
Penn will look to "continue doing what we are doing because it obviously worked today," McFadden said.
"Maybe a little more organization on the defensive end and I think we'll be set for Cornell on Saturday."
Lafayette 0 0 -- 0PENN 1 1 -- 2
Scoring: 1st half: 1, PENN, Salese 4, 6:17.
2nd half: 2, PENN, Bolger 1, 44:45.
