The Daily Pennsylvanian
As the seconds ticked away in the second overtime during Saturday's women's lacrosse game against Yale (3-3, 0-1 Ivy), it looked like they would be forced into a third overtime.
But Penn's Chelsea Kocis changed that. With just seven seconds left on the clock, Kocis scored off a pass from Chrissy Muller to help the Quakers win, 9-8.
"The game was a little too close for comfort," coach Karin Brower said.
Penn (5-2, 1-0 Ivy) had dominated the first half, playing solid defense and jumping to an early 5-1 lead with goals scored by Muller, Melissa Lehman, Emily Cochran and Ali Ryan.
The half ended with Penn having a 6-2 advantage.
The Bulldogs came out stronger in the second half, though, handling the ball at one point for almost five minutes.
"We had the 8-4 lead with 13:42 left in the game," Brower said. "We were trying to take time off the clock."
However, Yale scored four unanswered goals during the half and it ended in an 8-8 tie, forcing overtime.
"We decided we were not going to lose this game, though," Cochran said. "We played with our hearts."
After a scoreless first overtime, Kocis's first goal of the season couldn't have come at a better time for the Quakers.
The team's ability to get all the draws during the overtime periods helped keep the ball away from Yale, in particular the Bulldog's shooting threat Lauren Taylor.
Penn's Allison Ambrozy was key in getting the draw controls throughout the game, with five total.
Brower credits defenders Sarah Eastburn and Kate Parker for keeping Taylor's scoring down. Taylor didn't score in the first half and wasn't able to get a shot off in the overtime period.
Taylor, along with Penn's Muller each racked up three goals that day.
Scoring was a problem for the Red and Blue throughout the game though. They took 23 shots, but only nine of them went through the poles -- a less than fifty percent completion rate.
"Our problems in the past were creating opportunities," Brower said. "Now we need to finish them."
Brower said that to be a good shooter you have to go out on your own and work at it because there's only so much time in team practice for shooting.
She expects many of the girls will be out working at it this week in preparation for Saturday's game at Cornell.
