Going into last night's game against Saint Joseph's, the Penn field hockey team has been shut out in both of its matches. Meanwhile St. Joe's had handed its opponents two shutouts in two games.
And neither streak was to be broken last night. The Quakers ended up on the negative side of the tally again as St. Joe's defeated them 2-0.
Penn coach Val Cloud expressed her disappointment at the loss, especially on home turf.
The Hawks "played as if the field wasn't any advantage to us," Cloud said. "Sometimes I was wondering who was the home team."
The first goal of the game came less then 10 minutes in when St. Joe's junior Theresa Barbati sunk a feed from senior Lauren Luft.
The next one for the Hawks came with eight minutes left to play in the half when senior Nicole Antonini beat her defender and shot one into the corner past Penn goalie Liz Schlossberg.
St. Joe's "really came in the first half," Cloud said. "They were two beautiful goals, they had the opportunities and they put them in."
During the first half, Penn was able to rack up six penalty corners but was unable to convert any of them into scores.
"I think that's what really hurt us," Cloud said in reference to the missed opportunities. "We couldn't execute an insertion, so we couldn't execute corners."
The second half opened with the ball staying on the Quakers' side of the field for about five minutes before Penn was able to clear and with that also pick up some momentum. However, nothing mounted toward equalizing goals.
"We're just having a heck of a time trying to score," Cloud said.
Junior forward Jamie Calahan, who during the game had a few nice drives up the side of the field before passing into the center, was in agreement.
"We do a great job getting the ball in the circle, we just can't get it in the net," Calahan said.
A big part of the Quakers' momentum swing in the second half was due to freshman Katie Rose, who checked in shortly after the break and played the remainder of the game.
"She picked us up," Cloud said. "She plays very maturely for a freshman. She sees what's going on and makes good decisions with the ball."
Senior captain Melina Tsui expressed her disappointment at the loss, citing that it was a hard fought game.
"The desire was there, the heart was there," she said.
The one column in which the Quakers were not defeated, though, was shots. Penn got off five in the first half to the Hawks' three and also outshot St. Joe's 3-2 in the second.
The Hawks found a way to get two of those five shots in the net, an area where the Quakers are notably struggling. The Red and Blue has yet to score this year.
"It's still early in the season," Calahan said. "All the forwards haven't figured out exactly what works for each other."
These three shutouts for Penn come after a season where the team was only dealt two - by Harvard and Brown. This is a role reversal, as the Quakers themselves shut six teams out last season.
Penn will look for redemption, as well as its first win, when the team kicks off its Ivy League schedule against Harvard on Saturday at home.
