The young Penn women's soccer team has already matched last year's win total. Now, with two games remaining, the Quakers have a chance to achieve the 10-win season for which they have strived since Day 1.
This will be no easy task, however, as Penn (8-4-2, 1-3-1 Ivy) hosts Brown (9-3-3, 3-1-1) this Sunday afternoon. While the Quakers have had no trouble taming the Bears recently - Penn has won each of the last five contests - this Brown team is different.
After losing 10 games last year and seven seniors in the off-season, the Bears have put together just their second winning season since 2000. They are riding a five-game winning streak into Rhodes Field and have not lost in over a month. Senior Kathryn Moos has led the way for the new-look Bears, with 14 goals and five assists.
Moos will have the task of besting goalkeeper Sara Rose, who has won the starting job over fellow freshman Cailly Carroll, who began the season in net.
Captain Natalie Capuano described the situation as "healthy competition, since they respect one another."
Penn coach Darren Ambrose cited Rose's recent strong play. She made 17 saves in the last two games, and has allowed just one goal all season.
"When it's necessary to make a save, she's made it," Ambrose said.
Ambrose, expecting "a fierce game," also said that ball possession would be the key to the game. Nevertheless, which Quakers offense shows up may be the more important issue. While Penn is second in the Ivy League in goals scored, trailing only Sunday's opponent, 16 of those 22 goals were netted in just four games. The other nine games produced just six tallies.
The inconsistency does not worry Ambrose.
"We've been dangerous," he said, noting that his team has created chances in almost all of its games. "If we're dangerous, then we will score goals."
Capuano said the problem is mental.
"In practice we've been focusing a lot on our play in the final third and our transition," she said. "We keep that in the back of our mind, so it's usually about us focusing and putting away the chances we get."
The Quakers have had the most trouble capitalizing against their conference opponents. While they have the third best overall record in the Ivy League, their poor Ivy play has prevented a chance at the title.
Capuano thinks that they may be more successful on Sunday.
"We're a young team, and I don't think coming to some of the Ivy games we really understood what it meant to play an Ivy League game," she said. "As the season's progressed, we've gained more experience and grew up a little."
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