Penn women’s soccer junior forward Abbey Cook came up big against the Big Green to bring the teams’ matchup to a tie, 1-1.
The Quakers (4-2-3, 0-1-1 Ivy) looked to bounce back from their previous two losses, including a home loss against Princeton to open their Ivy League season. Dartmouth (4-2-3, 1-0-1) entered with momentum after beating Harvard in its Ivy opener for the first time in 20 years. Penn women’s soccer is on an overall rise this season, already notching four wins compared its two victories in the entirety of last season.
In the first half, Penn dominated possession and the offensive attack, but it came up empty in the goal column. Cook led the charge on offense throughout the match, ultimately claiming 35% of the Quakers’ 14 shots, 60% of Penn’s shots on goal, and a game-tying goal.
“I thought that [in] the first half we did enough to be ahead, but we didn’t create enough. But I thought our possession was really good,” coach Krissy Turner said after the game.
The Penn offense relied largely on set pieces to attack, taking three free kicks and another two corners that resulted in several great opportunities, but the Quakers came up empty on each of them. Senior goalkeeper Annabel Austen went relatively untested until the final minute of the first half, when Dartmouth put its first shot on net on a counterattack after a Quakers corner.
The strong defensive effort was led by sophomore defender Eden Veenema and freshman defender Casey Forman, each of whom played a big role in minimizing scoring chances for Dartmouth. It was more of the same to start the second half, as Dartmouth’s offense could not generate open shots, even after an early free kick from forward Emmanuella Frimpomaa.
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“It was one of those games where we didn’t need halftime,” Turner said. “They wanted halftime because then the momentum gets kind of killed, and we had to restart.”
Dartmouth looked to take advantage of the Quakers’ lost momentum by taking a stronger offensive stance in the second period, and controlled possession early on. Frimpomaa made a run on net and was fouled in the box by Veenema. Dartmouth midfielder Lykke Ihrfelt was awarded a free penalty kick and used the opportunity to score the first goal of the game, lobbing one past Austen with 34 minutes to go.
Penn responded by beginning to mount more of an effort to control the ball. Cook took a shot on goal after a good buildup, but the chance was thwarted by a save from Big Green goalkeeper Ola Goebel. More of the same continued until Dartmouth made a press on the goal, though the shot from forward Stephanie Lathrop was blocked away by the defense.
With 25 minutes to go and a light drizzle starting to come down, the Quakers continued to struggle to generate scoring opportunities, as Dartmouth controlled possession and kept the ball in Penn’s defensive half. Junior forward Mia Fuss made a valiant effort on a highly contested run to put a strong shot on, missing a goal by mere inches as the clock ticked toward zero.
The game looked all but over with five minutes remaining when Dartmouth fouled the Quakers, giving sophomore forward Lily White a free kick. Penn was finally able to convert, with a strong kick taken by White that led to a goal scored on a header by Cook, assisted by junior forward Taylor Ferraro.
“It felt really good,” Cook said about her goal. “I think we were putting a lot of effort and really pushing to get that goal. We had, I think, 14 shots, so to finally have one hit the back of the net was good.”
Seemingly reinvigorated by Penn’s success, junior forward Magali Capdevila evaded several defenders on her run to the net and struck a shot from outside the box, but drove it just over the net.
As the rain continued to fall, the game came to a sudden halt with 39 seconds left on the clock after a hard foul from Fuss, who was warned with a yellow card. Play stopped before the final seconds ran off the clock, ending the game in a 1-1 tie.
“Wish we could have got three points, but we’ll take one,” Cook said.
The Quakers will take on Brown on Saturday in their first away game in Ivy League play, looking to take home their first conference win of the season.
