Midseason scare in New Haven

If Saturday’s game at Yale is any indication, Penn’s Ivy opponents are going to make the Quakers work hard to claim their fourth straight Ivy title.

For the first time since March 22, 2008, the Quakers found themselves trailing a conference opponent at halftime.

But despite entering the locker room down 2-1 to a Bulldogs team that finished last season at the bottom of the Ivy standings, the Quakers were able to grind out a 7-5 victory.

“Both teams only had four shots the first half,” coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “The difference is, they had the ball a lot more than us. We didn’t, unfortunately, create that many opportunities for ourselves.”

The Bulldogs’ (3-4, 1-1 Ivy) attack came out ready to make the most of every chance they could get against the highly touted Penn defense, which was bolstered by the return of senior Emma Spiro from an ankle injury.

Yale started the scoring just after five minutes of play, when Spiro fouled Yale junior Kaitlyn Flately. The Bulldogs midfielder/defense converted the ensuing free position for her first of three goals on the day.

Her second came nine minutes later, as she scored unassisted on Penn senior goalkeeper Emily Szelest to put the Bulldogs up, 2-0.

Meanwhile the Yale defense clamped down, holding the Quakers scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the half.

“Yale did a really good job of stalling and not giving us the ball,” senior midfield Ali DeLuca said. “If they have the ball in their possession, we can’t really have the opportunity to score like we usually do.”

Even when Penn did have possession, it was unable to capitalize on opportunities on offense due to mistakes in its transition game.

The Quakers finally got on the board when junior attack Bridget Waclawik scored off of a pass from sophomore Erin Brennan.

“I thought that we were a little sloppy. We weren’t holding it, there were a lot of turnovers.,” Corbett said.

“Bringing the ball down the field, we threw the ball away, or we ran out of bounds, both of which aren’t characteristic of us.”

But the second half proved to be a different story The halftime deficit lit a spark, and the Quakers came out firing.

DeLuca set the tone as she won the draw control and scored a free position shot — in just ten seconds.

“Once the second half started, getting the draw controls, and getting down and making good opportunities — that’s when we started scoring,” she said.

The Quakers took the lead for the first time off another free-position goal scored by Brennan. Soon after, Brennan assisted DeLuca’s second goal to put the Quakers ahead 4-2.

Yale, however, would not go down without a fight. With nine minutes left in the second period, the score was tied at five.

“I called a time out, and we talked about what we needed to do,” Corbett said. “We ended up being able to control a lot of the last part of the game.”

Waclawik came through once again. Her second goal of the game — which came with just under five minutes remaining — put the Quakers ahead by one.

And after Giulia Gordano gave her squad a two-goal lead, the Quakers effectively stalled for the remaining three minutes, nabbing their second League victory.

“Every team needs these kind of games as a reality check to where they are at to make you step back,” DeLuca said. “If you start beating every team by a lot, you’re never really going to realize when it’s close what to do.”

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