The Daily Pennsylvanian
In the final moments against visiting Princeton on Friday, the ball bounced around a packed Princeton circle. The Quakers, who trailed 2-1, channeled all of their efforts into the final play in a desperate attempt to even the score.
The official seemed to raise her hand to award a penalty corner for Penn. For a second it looked as though the Quakers' field hockey team would have a fighting chance to tie the Tigers.
But no penalty call came, and shortly thereafter, the whistle blew to end Penn's 2005 season. Princeton won 2-1 and emerged undefeated in conference play to capture its 14th Ivy-League title.
It was the last game at Franklin Field for Penn seniors Cara Calahan, Kristen Gray, Amanda Jacobs, Kelly McFadden and Lea Salese, who left the field with a sour taste in their mouths.
"The reffing was probably the worst I've had in my four years here," Gray said. "It was unfair both ways, at least, but in the last 20 seconds there should have been a penalty corner, and we could have tried to do a repeat of last year. We deserved that penalty corner, and we should have gotten it."
The Quakers' last-minute attempt at a penalty corner to stay afloat evoked memories of the final game of the 2004 season. At Princeton in 2004, Penn took down the Tigers with a goal on a penalty corner after time had expired to clinch a share of the Ivy-League title.
But this year was different.
The Tigers (9-8, 7-0 Ivy) took control of the game early on. Still, though they kept Penn (9-8, 3-4 Ivy) on the defensive, they failed to put one past Penn goalie Liz Schlossberg for the first 35 minutes of play.
But Princeton scored two goals midway through the second half to erase a 1-0 Penn lead.
And the controversial officiating did not stop even within the last 20 seconds of the game, during which the refs failed to award Penn a penalty corner. The game seemed to hinge on many of the officials' calls, which elicited strong reactions from players on both sides.
"It was the most awful officiating both ways," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "Princeton showed more composure overall. I think my kids just got so frustrated with the calls on the field. The officiating took us out of our game because we weren't really composed enough to play the game."
The Quakers finished their season fifth in the league and will have to deal with the loss of their top three scorers -- Salese, Gray and Calahan -- as they try to improve next year.
Princeton 0 2 -- 2PENN 0 1 -- 1
Scoring: 1st Half: None.
2nd Half: 1, PENN, Gray, 7 (Rose) 43rd; 2, Princeton, Ehrlichman, 51st; 3, Princeton, Schmidt, H. (Schmidt, P.) 60th.
