Coming off last weekend’s impressive 3-0 shutout against Villanova, the Penn women’s soccer team went into the Penn Invitational Tournament with the momentum it needed to come out a champion.
The squad continued to show its strong defensive prowess in its first match against St. Joseph’s, shutting them out, 1-0. However, in the final match, Penn allowed two second-half goals, losing the tournament to Dayton.
Against St. Joe’s, freshman Kathryn Barth netted the game’s sole goal midway through the first half.
Reigning Atlantic 10 Champion Dayton played Lehigh the same day, winning 3-2 in overtime.
With both the Quakers and Flyers having wins under their belts, the two teams were left to duke it out for the Penn Invitational title yesterday.
The Quakers (2-2) held their own against the Flyers (6-2) in the first half, with each team registering five shots apiece, none of which made it to the net.
This ended a streak of 225 consecutive shutout minutes for the Quakers.
But Dayton kicked up its offense in the second half, out-shooting Penn 11-2.
Penn almost netted a goal in the opening minute of the second half, when junior Theresa Yankovich headed the ball over Dayton goalkeeper Katherine Boone, before the ball hit the post.
However, despite Penn’s defensive efforts — which included seven saves by junior goalkeeper Caroline Williams — Penn fell in a 2-0 loss.
“We still have got a lot to learn and fine tune. We have to be a bit more dynamic and aggressive,” said coach Darren Ambrose.
With a combined nine saves for the weekend, Williams was named outstanding goalkeeper of the tournament.
“Caroline was fantastic this weekend,” said Ambrose. “She’s played well this season and has really grown from last year.”
Seniors Kaitlin Campbell and Marisa Schoen were also named to the All-Tournament team.
“[On Sunday,] we came away empty-handed, but we are still a good attacking team,” Ambrose said. “We just have to be more consistent with it.”
The Quakers head to the West Coast next weekend to play Cal-State Northridge and Loyola Marymount, where they will try to match their defensive skill with a more aggressive offense.
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