No Jessica Fuccello, no problem.
Minus its scoring leader — and the fourth-leading scorer in the nation — the Penn women’s soccer team squeaked by Brown, 1-0, Saturday in Providence, R.I. Penn’s second-leading scorer, forward Marin McDermott, broke the scoreless tie with a breakaway goal in the 80th minute.
McDermott’s goal — which followed a “great ball” by sophomore midfielder Theresa Yankovich, according to Penn coach Darren Ambrose — was a welcome sight to her coach given the sophomore’s recent struggles.
“She’s been quiet since we played Cornell,” Ambrose said, referring to the Oct. 2 game when she last scored a goal.
“She was really showing maturity and improvement since her freshman year and she started to come back into her own this week in practice.”
Meanwhile, Fuccello and her explosive leg, which has generated 16 goals during her senior season for the Quakers (9-4-2, 3-3 Ivy), were relegated to the sideline as she served a suspension following two yellow cards in last weekend’s loss to Yale. With their co-captain out, the Red and Blue were outshot by Brown (5-8-1, 2-4) 16-8 for the game, including 11-4 in the second half.
But the Bears’ shooting advantage was all for naught, as only two shots were on goal and McDermott made the most of her opportunity to give the Quakers the victory on her sixth goal of the season. It was the ideal team effort necessary to win in the absence of a star player.
“Everyone was going to be counted on to give a little bit more, and they did,” Ambrose said.
Though Penn has been plagued by “sporadic, hit-or-miss” play in its coach’s words, a dose of revenge made for a sweet weekend. Penn had been on the losing end of 1-0 shutouts at the hands of the Bears during their two previous meetings.
“That’s a big part of the motivation going into it,” Ambrose said of the revenge factor.
The win brought the Quakers back to .500 in the Ivy League, good for a fifth-place tie with Dartmouth. By defeating the Big Green, 2-1, Saturday, Harvard clinched at least a share of the Ivy title, which Penn last claimed in 2007.
The Red and Blue close out their season Saturday at Rhodes Field, taking on a Princeton (7-6-3, 3-2-1) team that is fresh off a double-overtime win against last-place Cornell (1-12-1, 0-6).
The Tigers’ last meeting with the Quakers also went into double-overtime, with Princeton coming out on top, 2-1, in last year’s season finale in New Jersey.
Ambrose said his veteran players remember the disappointment after that game and will once again be looking to avenge a difficult loss.
“We got some revenge [against Brown] and coming into the weekend [it could be] the same thing for Princeton,” he said.
