PHILADELPHIA - The University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team used three second half goals - including two from
Sasha Stephens off the bench - to down visiting Yale in a 3-1, come-from-behind victory. With the win, the Quakers move into sole possession of third place with ten points, two behind second-place Princeton.
HOW IT HAPPENED
*The Quakers took the opening touch and wasted no time in creating their first opportunity of the afternoon, as
Katharine Larson intercepted a Yale pass and found
Emma Loving down the right side. Loving then took it towards the right corner and found
Kristen Miller on the near post, but her shot went just wide right.
*Yale held possession for a majority of the first 30 minutes from then on, but the Bulldogs could not quite break through with the game's first goal. Yale had its best opportunity in the 30th minute following a free kick that ended up at the far post, but Aerial Chavarin's header attempt bounced off the woodwork.
*After entering the break scoreless, Yale came out of the locker room with a quick score in the 55th minute off the foot of Michelle Alozie - her eighth of the season.
*The Yale goal sparked the Quaker offense to come to life, as Stephens took a feed from Higa to the right corner of the 18 and one-timed it just right of the net. In the 64th minute,
Allie Trzaska had a strike on goal from 25 yards out that caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and in to tie the game at one for her second of the season.
*Trzaska's goal set off a flurry of opportunities for Penn in the ensuing five minutes, as Miller crossed a ball from the left edge to the top of the six yard box that beat the outstretched keeper and landed on the foot of a sliding Stephens, who sent it into the bottom corner of the net on the far post for the 69th minute, go-ahead goal.
*Penn was not finished with its second-half barrage and netted its third goal of the match in the 80th minute when
Erica Higa controlled the ball around midfield and launched a perfectly weighted pass across the field to an open Stephens who took a touch outside the 18 then fired on goal - finding the back of the net in the upper 90 on the far post. Despite a few opportunities by the Yale forwards in the closing minutes, keeper
Kitty Qu stood tall to keep the Bulldogs off the board in the remaining ten minutes to pick up her fourth win in goal this season.
GAME NOTES
*Stephens' two-goal performance was the fourth of her career ... The come-from-behind win was Penn's first since September of 2014 when the Quakers downed visiting Old Dominion 3-2 in overtime ... Penn's three goals are the most against Yale since 1997 ... Three goals is a season-high for the Quakers and the most scored in a game since last October against Delaware State.
WHAT'S NEXT
Penn (5-6-3, 3-1-1) returns to action Saturday afternoon at Brown for the first of its two final matches in the 2017 season. Kick off from Providence is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
#FightOnPenn
