The Penn women's soccer team took a strong first step towards defending its Ivy League crown with a 2-0 victory over Harvard at Rhodes Field.
Sophomore forward Kristin Kaiser figured prominently in both of the Quakers' goals. At 18:14, Kaiser took a long lead down the left side from Mara Fintz.
Kaiser caught up to the pass just before reaching the back line and crossed it toward the goalmouth, where freshman Marin McDermott cleaned up with an easy shot for her second goal on the season.
At 72:21, Kaiser put the game away with a goal of her own. Freshman Ursula Lopez-Palm fed Kaiser with a quick touch pass which led to a breakaway. Kaiser chipped the ball inside the far post past Harvard's charging goalkeeper, Lauren Mann.
Harvard was stifled by a merciless Penn defense. After a shot ricocheted off the crossbar in the opening minutes of the match, the Crimson were limited to only three more shots - none of them on goal - the entire game. Penn goalie Sara Rose did not even need to record a save to preserve the shutout.
"The first Ivy win is huge," Kaiser said. "We're going to have so much momentum going into the season now, [and] it's great to win at home."
