Penn goalkeeper Alanna Butera was flat on her back, the ball bouncing a few yards away from her, and the net was wide open. For the first time this season, it didn't matter.
The whistle after the loose ball signalled that possession was going the other way, and with little time left on the clock, the Quakers coasted to a 1-0 win over Lafayette last night at Franklin Field, their first of the year.
That turnover in the final moments capped off a rough game for the Leopards' Laura Fabian. No fewer than three times after intermission teammates launched long passes down the sidelines to her, only to see the ball trickle past her stick and out of bounds each time.
She didn't get overwhelmed with help from her teammates, either. Except for a 10-minute stretch early in the second half, the Quakers (1-4) won the possession war. They took eight shots on goal to the Leopards' one, despite Lafayette's four penalty corners. Penn had three.
"Obviously it was tough to get goals at both ends today," Lafayette coach Andrew Griffiths said.
Senior forward Kara Bolger, who scored Penn's only goal off a rebound in the first half, said the game was a tightly controlled affair, at least on the Quakers' end.
"There was so much composure today," Bolger said. "Nothing frantic. We didn't give up any stupid fouls, it was all really smart play, and I think that was really clear."
"I'm trying to get them to put a lot of pressure on without fouling. Let them do the fouling; let us get the corners," Quakers coach Val Cloud said.
The Quakers now head into Cornell on Saturday with a win under their belts, even if it only came by a solitary goal. The Big Red are 1-0 in conference play and boast a plus-4 goal differential, the only Ivy team on the plus side in that category.
"What I liked about today was we were really working on getting the ball in the middle today, and we really did," Cloud said. "Maybe not as much as I had hoped, but much, much better."
The Leopards may have played hard, but playing smart was a different matter. Lafayette made a push in the final minutes, but wild passes and hasty decision-making didn't help the cause.
Fabian finally did corall a ball deep in Penn territory, but decided to drive 30 yards into the corner before trying to find a teammate.
For a brief moment, the game flashed before Cloud's eyes.
"Luckily for us," Cloud said, "she messed up."
