Penn field hockey falls in Ivy opener to Cornell

The Penn field hockey team couldn’t find the back of the cage for the second straight game and fell in its Ivy opener, 4-0, Saturday at Cornell.

The Quakers haven’t won in Ithaca, N.Y., since 2004.

Big Red junior Hannah Balleza recorded her first career hat trick, notching three goals in the game’s first 22 minutes.

Balleza had plenty of help Saturday. Alaina Skalski, Brittany Thompson and Kat Dipastina each contributed an assist.

Fellow junior Elly Plappert made it 4-0 when she beat a defender one-on-one and put the ball past Penn sophomore goaltender Carly Sokach with 11:36 remaining in the first half.

Shots were nearly even, with Cornell (1-4, 1-0 Ivy) holding the edge in both shots, 15-14, and shots on goal, 10-9. Sophomore Emily Corcoran led Penn (3-3, 0-1) with four, and freshman Elizabeth Hitti had three.

But the Quakers couldn’t solve Cornell junior goalie Carolyn Horner, who registered her second career shutout and first of the season.

With its second straight goose egg, Penn has now gone 158-plus minutes without a goal after scoring 16 times in its first four games.

Next up, the Red and Blue will be at La Salle on Wednesday before opening up their Ivy home slate Saturday against Harvard.

A year ago, the Quakers topped the Explorers, 1-0, in double-overtime but fell at Harvard, 4-1.

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