Field Hockey: Last-second goal for naught as Quakers fall

Not even the surging Quakers could take the Tigers, although they came very close.

A late push from Penn (9-8, 4-3 Ivy) forced overtime, but Princeton (10-6, 7-0 Ivy) barely survived to win, 2-1, and finish undefeated in Ivy League play.

With just 20 seconds left in regulation, the game appeared to be over. The Tigers were awarded a free hit in their defensive zone. All they had to do was clear the ball or maintain possession, and their 1-0 lead would be safe.

Instead, they turned it over. Nicole Levi seized the opportunity. After beating a defender atop the right circle, Levi passed to Nicole Black. With under seven seconds remaining, her shot found the lower right of the net. The Tigers were stunned, and the game was headed for overtime.

"We had been pressuring them the whole game," Black said. "We knew we were outplaying them, and now we had a chance to go into overtime. It was a great feeling"

That euphoria, however, was short-lived.

In the extra session, the Quakers failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities, including two penalty corners within the first two minutes.

Thirteen minutes into overtime, Paige Schmidt - last year's Ivy League player of the year - ran across the top of the circle and lifted a backhand shot past goalkeeper Liz Schlossberg.

Just like that, the game, the season and Penn's six-game winning streak all came to an end

"As difficult as it was to lose that game, the girls played just incredibly," assistant coach Jeremy Cook said. "They were working really, really hard to get it into overtime, and, in overtime, we really put ourselves in a position where we could win."

The loss allowed Cornell, Harvard and Yale to pull even with Penn in a four-way tie for second place. Princeton had clinched the title two weeks ago.

If not for their poor start, the Quakers might have been playing the Tigers for the championship.

"It's one of those things: shoulda, woulda, coulda. You wish you could go back and play the Cornell and Dartmouth games again, but you obviously can't do that," Cook said.

Now that this season is in the books, the focus has shifted to next year. The players and the coaching staff are optimistic.

"I think we've got a lot of talent again," Black said. "I think it speaks well for us that we ended so well. We can use that to motivate us, and I think we're going to have a great team."

Cook agreed with that assessment, stressing the strong play of some of the team's younger players.

"We'll miss the [five] seniors tremendously," he said. "But the underclassmen have really, really stepped up and know exactly what it will take to get it done next year."

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