Rothenheber rocks Bearcats

Penn was, once again, an ungracious host.

In their first-ever meeting with Binghamton, the Quakers continued their domination at Rhodes Field, roughing the Bearcats up, 3-0.

Binghamton (6-6-1) was hot coming into Wednesday’s match, winning six of its last eight contests. But the 50-degree weather in Philadelphia may have cooled them off — or maybe it was senior Jess Rothenheber and the rest of the Red and Blue’s offensive unit.

Rothenheber went to work early, crossing the ball deep from the right wing to the foot of Ursula Lopez-Palm at the back post.

Lopez-Palm, a sophomore back, one-timed it into the corner of the net before the diving Bearcats keeper could react.

The California native’s goal proved to be the only offense of the first half, though a few inches here or there could have changed things.

After finding a seam in the defense at the fifteen-minute mark, Binghamton ripped a shot off the crossbar over the head of junior goalkeeper Gina Winters.

And just before the half, Winters found herself far off her line, one-on-one with a Bearcats striker. Somehow the ball carried past Winters, but wound up getting stuffed into the pipe by the heady defenders of Penn (7-3-2).

Coach Darren Ambrose was pleased with his squad’s performance on both sides of the ball, but acknowledged the development of the defense during the course of the game.

“We brought it to [the team’s] attention that the biggest problem we had was when we had the ball in the back third, we gave it away within 45 yards of the goal,” Ambrose said. “[In the] first half they could have had a couple goals because we gave the ball away.”

Ambrose spoke with his team about coming out less conservative in the second half, and being more “direct.”

The Quakers listened.

Five minutes after intermission, Rothenheber was back in action, this time taking the ball herself.

Rothenheber played a ball off her fellow midfielder and carried it to the crest of the box. When the defense backed off, the senior drilled a shot into the lower ninety from 25 yards out for her first goal this year.

“We’ve been working a lot on center-mid to center-mid,” Rothenheber said. “Sarah [Friedman’s] ball was a nice ball into space, and I just utilized that space.”

Rothenheber tacked on another assist in the 65th minute, setting up forward Jessica Fucello, who buried her team-high 13th goal.

Penn controlled the tempo all night, outshooting the Bearcats, 17-6, and securing seven corner kicks while allowing none.

The Red and Blue didn’t even have to register a save.

The Quakers are now 6-1-1 on their home turf. They’ll need to continue their high level of play at Rhodes to topple Dartmouth (6-5, 2-1 Ivy), which comes to Philadelphia this Saturday.

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