W. Soccer | Penn surges late over easy Rider

For Natalie Capuano, it's no heat, no sleeves, no problem.

The senior captain started the women's soccer team's 3-0 win over Rider last night looking a bit silly, bare-armed in the cold.

But as the sleeves stayed off through halftime, she led by example.

"Nat's just tough," said sophomore Sarah Friedman, who leads the team with 22 points.

The Quakers (8-4-2, 2-1-1 Ivy) knew they needed to stay tough to avoid a letdown with only three games left in the season.

The Red and Blue are currently fourth in the Ancient Eight, just three points behind first-place Princeton.

But Rider was unfazed. The Broncs (2-10-3) felt they could level the playing field with impenetrable defense.

"When we're faced against a very good team like Penn, we have to give ourselves the best chance to win," Rider coach Drayson Hounsome said.

The Quakers weren't very sharp in the first half. A clogging Broncs defense kept them well out of the goalie box and out of their rhythm.

Despite outshooting Rider, 11-0, in the first 45 minutes, the Quakers were unable to net a goal against a team that had yielded 26 in only 14 games.

The Red and Blue passed sloppily and were tentative closing on the ball.

"We looked a little bit surprised," Penn head coach Darren Ambrose said. "We weren't real sure how to go about [attacking the Rider defense]."

This uncertainty translated into an uneventful half with many missed opportunities.

Penn's offense was cold, which was apropos given the temperature at Rhodes Field.

Such frigid weather makes any contact with a soccer ball feel like being slapped, and it drove 19 of 22 players on the field to wear layers under their uniforms.

Capuano and Friedman, who combined for zero long sleeves, got together for the game's first goal less than five minutes into the second half.

Friedman fed Capuano from deep in the right corner. The senior collected the ball with one touch, then fired a goal into the side of the net opposite Rider's keeper.

The rout was on.

Just over two minutes later, Friedman tallied another assist, setting up sophomore defender Kaitlin Campbell for her first collegiate goal.

Despite the biting cold, the Quakers had finally gotten hot.

Penn now became fresh and loose - it looked like some of Capuano's toughness had rubbed off during halftime.

"I'm pretty sure she was probably in the middle of [the huddle], saying 'You know what, we can solve this,'" Ambrose said. She "raises the tempo, raises the expectation."

That expectation came to fruition when freshman Marin McDermott made it 3-0 in the 83rd minute.

Ambrose seems to know why.

"When they do the things that we talk to them about . and when they apply it with some intensity, we score goals in bunches."

It certainly doesn't hurt to have a captain who approaches the game just like she approaches the wind chill: head on, willing to bear the discomfort for her team.

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