Women's soccer beats Yale to extend winning streak to seven

With another convincing win, the Penn women’s soccer team remained within striking distance for another Ivy League championship.

On Saturday evening at Rhodes Field, the Quakers cruised past Yale, which had previously been tied with Penn in second place. The 2-0 victory gave the Quakers their seventh-straight win, as they kept pace with first-place Harvard.

From the outset, Penn (12-2-0, 4-1 Ivy) dominated possession and the midfield, resulting in many early chances. This was key, as Penn had “started off a little bit slow” in previous games, according to senior midfielder Theresa Yankovich.

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Despite early chances, the Quakers failed to score until the 27th minute, when sophomore forward Kathryn Barth took the ball down the left flank, cut in and sent the ball in front of the net, where Yankovich swept it in. Just five minutes later, it was Barth on the receiving end of an assist by both Yankovich and senior Colleen Barry, where she beat the keeper with a header.

In the second half, Yale (7-5-2, 3-2) got a few more opportunities, but ultimately failed to convert its chances. Any burst of energy Yale created, however, did not worry coach Darren Ambrose.

“They threw everything at us that they had, and it generated maybe one or two more [opportunities], but you’re going to have that in a 90-minute game,” Ambrose said.

“They took the defender out and threw more numbers in midfield, tried to get more of the ball, and I just thought our kids responded really well,” he added.

With the team on a roll heading into its final three games, Ambrose said the team will “keep going about things exactly the same way.”

And the road gets easier from here on out, as the Quakers face fifth-place Brown and sixth-place Princeton in their final two league games.

However, to win the Ancient Eight, they’ll also need Harvard (10-4-1, 4-0-1) to tie or lose one of its final two games. Penn trails the Crimson by one point in the Ivy League standings — Harvard handed Penn its sole league loss last month in Cambridge, Mass.

The Red and Blue play their final non-conference match Wednesday when they travel to Lehigh, a team they also shutout, 2-0, last year.

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