W. Soccer | It's official: No repeat in '08

With its Ivy League title chances on the line on Senior Night, the women's soccer team had plenty of motivation in Saturday's matchup against Brown.

But as Bears senior Lindsay Cunningham's third game-winning goal of the season soared into the far corner 5:54 into the first overtime, several Quakers could do nothing but sink to the Rhodes Field turf or hang their heads in dismay.

"It's just very disappointing, and it's sad to have our career at Rhodes end," senior captain Natalie Capuano said. "We knew what was on the line, we knew we had to win, so we just gave everything that we had."

Although first-place Harvard's tie with Dartmouth earlier in the day kept the Quakers' title hopes alive, the 1-0 loss officially eliminated them from Ivy League title contention.

"It's one of the most emotional nights of the season," coach Darren Ambrose said.

The loss was especially frustrating because, as in previous weeks, Penn (8-5-3, 2-2-2 Ivy) controlled much of the match but once again failed to convert.

"Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't," Capuano said. "But like Darren said at the end of the game, when we have that many chances, we have to capitalize on some of them."

The Quakers were called for offsides an absurd 14 times, though a few of the calls were questionable. On one play, sophomore Kristin Kaiser decked her defender on a through ball and sprinted past her for an apparent breakaway, only to have it called back.

"From my angle, it's hard to see," Ambrose said. "It's very difficult because the game's so fast."

But Ambrose squared most of the blame on his forwards, whom he said showed "a lack of discipline."

"I thought we were clearly offsides numerous times," Ambrose said. "When you don't learn from your mistakes you get punished and you get penalized."

Penn's defense was dominant for most of the match, but Brown (6-6-4, 2-3-1 Ivy) was eventually able to capitalize on its minimal opportunities.

"I don't think [the Bears] caused any problems the entire game," Ambrose said. "I think everything they did was from 60 yards out."

Brown had only one strong scoring opportunity in regulation - on a corner kick with under a minute left in the first half - but junior goalie Sara Rose made a diving save on Bridget Ballard's header.

Once the match reached overtime, the Quakers grew desperate and pushed up their back line, only to allow Cunningham's sudden breakaway on a counter-attack.

Despite the demoralizing loss, Ambrose said that there was nothing particular he could tell his players to keep their spirits up so soon after the match.

"Right now those kids know, they're mature, they're smart enough to understand the opportunity that they had, and if they're competitive kids they'll come out and fight hard [against] Princeton."

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