After beating Rutgers by a combined score of 7-0 in the last two years, Penn junior Meghan Rose found out yesterday that a third victory against the Scarlet Knights would not come with such a lopsided score - if at all.
That lightbulb likely went off even before the field hockey team found itself headed into overtime when the frustrated Quakers found itself tied 1-1 with its unspectacular opponents - despite nearly outshooting them by double digits.
But with the specter of a third-straight loss looming, Rose proved that a team can only go to the well so many times. She rolled a shot in off a breakaway just twenty seconds into overtime and killed any thoughts of an upset by Rutgers.
Rose was a menace to Rutgers goalie Rosalyn Wentko throughout the game, managing four shots on goal before her final, successful game-winning one. Junior Nicole Black also kept Penn (3-5, 1-1 Ivy) in the game with a first-half goal. Goalie Liz Schlossberg needed just two saves to keep the Scarlet Knights (3-8) at bay as the defense made a statement for the first time since a 3-1 win over Lafayette earlier this month.
"Rutgers had a lot of speed; they came at us really strong," assistant coach Jeremy Cook said. "We were able to hold them off."
The single lapse that sent the game into overtime came courtesy of Rutgers' Amy Lewis, who slapped a ball in off a penalty corner ten minutes after Black had put Penn on the board. Overall, the Scarlet Knights took just four short corners, while Penn hit twelve - a statistic that underscored how disappointing a one-goal regulation was.
Overtime proved to be a better measure of the two teams' ability and Rose was able to gain a breakaway early on. She scored the second unassisted goal of the day - but some luck helped the ball in, she added.
"I took it all the way down," Rose said. "I kind of messed it up, and it kind of trickled into the goal anyway."
With the challenges right around the corner, she'll take it.
The win was a much-needed shot in the arm before the team's matchup with Villanova - a rival program that counts itself as one of the nation's best - on the Wildcats' turf this Wednesday night.
