Updated May 17, 2:35 p.m.
Yesterday on Vidas field, the phrase down to the wire took on a whole new meaning.
Senior attack Becca Edwards scored with five seconds left in the second overtime to seal a Quakers victory, 10-9, over Duke and a trip to the Final Four in Towson, Md. Penn (15-2) will face No. 1 Northwestern (21-0) Friday for a chance to face either No. 2 Maryland (21-0) or No. 3 North Carolina (16-4) in the championship.
"It's not often you get to score an overtime game winner," Edwards said. But when Penn coach, Karin Brower, pointed out it was her second this season, Edwards laughed, saying, "This one takes you to the Final Four, this one is a bigger one."
Edwards may not have netted her game-winning, 100th collegiate point, however, had it not been for a Duke-requested stick check towards the end of regulation time. Freshman midfield Erin Brennan scored on a left-handed crease roll to bring the score to 10-9 with a little over four minutes to play. Her stick was found to be illegal and the score returned to nine all.
Having defeated Duke in last year's Final Four in yet another overtime, one-goal win, the Quakers (15-2) knew it would be a back and forth battle.
"We said before the game that there was going to be highs and lows," Brower said. "We needed to play for 60 minutes and we played for 66."
Penn got an early 4-0 lead with goals from Edwards (twice), Brennan, and junior midfield Ali DeLuca just twelve minutes into the game. Duke got on the board with two goals of their own from junior midfields Danielle Kachulis and Lindsay Gilbride. Edwards and Brennan retaliated; both beat their defenders on crease rolls to net a goal each.
Foreshadowing the stick check, DeLuca requested an examination of Duke sophomore midfield Caroline Bullard's stick. The challenge went in Penn's favor. Taking advantage of her team's momentum, junior midfield Emma Spiro went on to roll out of a double team and score to put the Quakers up 7-2 at the half.
"I don't think we've been down five in the last two seasons," Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said. "We've been down, but not down by that much."
But the Blue Devils (15-6) did not take the Quakers' lead lightly. Kachulis netted a high shot on a challenge well outside the eight-meter arc. Then, Gilbride scored off of a quick-stick from a feed from behind the cage. The Quakers called a timeout, to regroup, but Duke went on to score three more goals to tie the game at 7-7.
"We gave them opportunities to come back in and they got the ball and they kind of chipped away with us," Brower said.
Duke took the lead for the first time when Kachulis and Gilbride netted two more goals to make the score 9-7 with 9:11 left.
After a foul against the Blue Devils on the following draw, DeLuca brought the ball into the Penn attacking end. It was there she scored off of a reverse pass from Brennan. Brennan also assisted Spiro as she went on to score the goal that would tie the game for the second time.
"It's never fun to go down, but we are very confident in our defense and very confident in our ability to score when we need to," Edwards said.
After Brennan's would-be winning goal was revoked, Duke's senior midfield Caroline Cryer took a shot with just a few ticks left in regulation that grazed the crossbar.
"I just was trying to get the ball towards the goal," Cryer said. "I didn't know how much time there would be, unfortunately it was just inches."
The Blue Devils had one chance to score in the first overtime, but junior goalkeeper Emily Szelest came up with the save. Towards the end of the second overtime period, the Quakers ran a motion that was designed for a DeLuca goal, but Duke goalie Kim Imbesi saved it.
However, a quick turnover caused by DeLuca with 15 seconds left gave Penn a breakaway. And with Edwards' defender out of place, the Flourtown, Pa., native was open to score and send her team to the Final Four.
"In world of lacrosse the ACC teams are supposed to beat us," Brower said. "You know that it's going to be a close fight ... at the end with a team such as Duke."
