Of 16 goals scored by the Penn women’s soccer team this season, just three have come in the first half.
The squad’s performances have made it notorious for late-game heroics, none more exciting — and crucial — than a game-winning score with 3.9 seconds remaining against Harvard. The victory snapped the Crimson’s Ivy League winning streak dating back to 2010.
But when Penn (7-4-1, 3-0 Ivy) faces Dartmouth (8-4, 2-1) on Saturday in Hanover, N.H., the Quakers will look to start fast from the opening whistle against a Big Green squad that is on the rise in the Ancient Eight.
“They’re like us: they’re playing for something,” coach Darren Ambrose said. “Whenever you play a team that’s playing for something, whether it’s Dartmouth or whoever else, you’re going to find a team that’s ready to play.”
Dartmouth has experienced a major turnaround under the leadership of second-year coach Theresa Romagnolo. After winning just four games last year, the Big Green carry eight victories into this weekend — with five matches remaining on their schedule, no less.
Throughout the season, the Red and Blue have struggled to score in the opening frame. In fact, the Quakers have not registered a goal in the first half of any road games this year.
Despite this, Penn is undefeated in Ivy play through three games, largely due to a stingy defense that has conceded only four goals in the first half of play, keeping the Quakers close in games when the offense didn’t find the back of the net early.
All three of the Red and Blue’s Ivy wins have come by one goal, making emotional stability particularly critical for the backline late in the game.
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“It’s game management,” senior Alex Dayneka said. “It’s being composed and not getting freaked out.”
In the second half, Penn’s offense has consistently come alive, outscoring its opponents, 12-6, and outshooting them, 92-54. These outbursts have often given the Quakers the win.
Though Ambrose would like to see the team start faster, he is also encouraged by the squad’s ability to emerge victorious in tight games.
“It’s a very important quality in any team competing for a championship,” he said. “You find ways to win and you find ways through adversity.”
Dartmouth’s top two scorers on the year are junior Chrissy Lozier and senior Emma Brush, with six and seven goals, respectively. When the two squads meet, the game will feature a matchup between two friends and former club soccer teammates: Lozier and Penn’s Kerry Scalora, who leads the Quakers in points this season.
While Scalora enjoys competing against friends, she also acknowledges that personal pride is put on the line when playing against familiar faces.
“It’s kind of fun playing your friends, but you need to prove that you’re there to win and you want to be the better team,” Scalora said.
With an eight-hour bus ride and the cold weather of New Hampshire, the trip to Hanover is consistently one of Penn’s most difficult challenges of the season. In fact, the Quakers haven’t recorded a victory in Hanover in nearly a decade — their last win on the Big Green’s turf came in November 2002.
But Scalora is confident that neither making a long drive nor playing on the road will prevent Penn from competing at a high level.
“We want to get to that last game, where it is us and Princeton fighting for the Ivy League title,” Scalora said. “So I think it doesn’t matter if it would be 20 hours away. We’re going to bring our best effort.”
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