Coming into this season, senior midfielder Rachel Eng had only scored four times in her 38-game Penn field hockey career.
In 13 contests this year, she's already trumped that, finding the back of the net five times for the Quakers.
"Rachel has become more confident," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "I think her success can really be credited to her switching from the right side of the field to the left side of the field, which is considered the scoring side."
At Johnson Field in New Haven, Conn., tomorrow, Eng and the rest of the Quakers (4-10, 2-2 Ivy) will start the home stretch of their Ivy League season as they battle Yale (4-8, 1-3).
The Red and Blue are winless on the road this season at 0-9. Yet they claim they're not daunted by their imminent trip to the Constitution State.
"We don't feel any anxiety going on the road," senior captain Meredith Moran said. "I think we will be fine. We won the last time we played at Yale."
Moran also stressed the importance of adapting to Yale's carpet surface, as opposed to Franklin Field's Sprinturf.
"Playing on the turf at Johnson Field is an adjustment," she said. "We have a practice on Friday at Yale and I think we will be able to get used to the faster pace of the ball before the game."
Penn will depend on the offensive aptitude of Eng and fellow senior midfielder Margaretha Ehret to provide the necessary fire power.
Ehret leads the Quakers in both goals (six) and points (16), while Eng has become the team's main offensive weapon tacking on five goals - including two game winners.
Cloud has been impressed by the team's cohesion and ball movement, which has allowed Eng to assert herself.
"As a result of moving to the left side of the field, Rachel has been getting a lot of balls from her teammates to put into the net," Cloud said. "She is playing more aggressively, which we are asking her to do.
Penn's defense must hold strong in order to counter Yale's talented offense led by junior forward Ashley McCauley. A member of the 2007-08 second team all-Ivy, McCauley ranks in the top half of conference offensive statistics.
But Cloud isn't too worried about the Rye, N.Y., native.
"Our defense has played superbly in the last two games and has helped us to be successful," she said, as her squad held Columbia and Temple, which currently average a combined 4.12 goals a game, to only two goals.
"I think we will continue that trend."
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