NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team scraped and clawed for another road win, moving to 7-0 away from Rhodes Field, with a resilient 2-1 win over Yale on Saturday afternoon. Emily Sands scored twice, and pounded home the match winner with under 10 minutes remaining for her seventh GWG and to secure three more points for the Quakers, who moved to 11-1-1 and 4-0-1 in Ivy League competition, the best five-game start in program history.
NOTES
*Penn's shutout streak ended at 733 minutes, conceding for the first time since Sept. 9 against Navy.
*The Quakers are now 7-0 away from Rhodes Field and 6-0 in true road games.
*Emily Sands scored twice, her seventh and eighth goals of the season, a team-high. Her match winner in the 81st minute was her seventh of the year, the second-most in the nation.
*For just the second time this season, Penn allowed an equalizing goal. Both teams, the Quakers rebounded to win the game.
*Penn has four Ivy League wins for the first time since 2013 when it finished 5-1-1 and second in the league.
*The Red and Blue's 4-0-1 start is the best five-game start in the Ivy League in program history.
*Megan Lloyd – after scoring the first goal of her career in a 1-0 win over Dartmouth – assisted on the first goal of the afternoon, her first assist of the year.
*Breukelen Woodard assisted on the game winner and tallied her first point since opening her Penn career with three against Mount St. Mary's.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game started slow at Reese Stadium with the first real chance not coming until the 14th minute. Sasha Stephens played Emily Sands at her feet and then Sands returned the favor, playing the senior winger into space down the right side. Stephens and Katharine Larson, the winger from the opposite side, were in behind, taking on just one Bulldog defender. Stephens eventually played Larson, who tucked her shot into the bottom corner, but the flag was up as Larson was just a step offside.
Around 10 minutes later, Stephens beat her defender again, a regular occurrence in the opening 45 minutes, and played Allie Trzaska, but her shot floated a bit high. Less than five minutes later, right around the half hour mark, Penn's first critical opportunity came. Off a Stephens corner, Trzaska rose up and won a strong header, but it careened of the crossbar.
It took just another five minutes before the Quakers hit the woodwork again. Stephens cut inside on her left and curled one toward the far post that also hit the frame and stayed out.
Just before the half, Penn made another push. Emma Loving provided instant offense off the bench, immediately took a defender on, beat her and then unleashed a shot that the keeper saved off her own defender. That defender was able to recover and clear the ball off the line, an unlucky conclusion to the half as it remained deadlocked at 0-0. Penn seemed to have deserved one in the opening 45, but couldn't muster a goal.
Penn's dominance in the first 10 minutes of the second half has been well documented this season. Once again, that stretch paid dividends on Saturday. Trzaska received a ball from a throw, played Stephens, who twisted between a pair of defenders and put a cross in. Yale dismissed the first cross, but its clearance only went as far as Megan Lloyd, who delicately lofted the ball back into the box, releasing Sands. The junior gently touched it away from a defender and tucked her finish in the bottom corner, putting the Quakers ahead for the seventh time this season.
In the 65th minute, though, Yale broke through, scoring just the fourth goal of the season against Penn. After Kitty Qu punched away the initial corner, Kristi Wharton whipped another ball in that Fran Steele got on the end of at the back post, equalizing at 1-1.
The next 10-15 minutes were frantic after Penn allowed an equalizer for just the second time this campaign. The Quakers began pushing more players forward and the chances started flowing. Twice after Yale scored there were goals disallowed for the Red and Blue when players were called offside. Still, there was a sense of calm within the team and a quiet confidence in the body language of the players on the field; they seemed to act as if a goal was coming. And it came.
In the 81st minute, Penn earned a corner. Stephens took it, Breukelen Woodard skied to win it, but her header ricocheted off the crossbar. On the rebound, Sands, who has repeatedly found herself in the right spot at the right time to score scrappy goals, jumped on the rebound and blasted it past the Yale keeper. It was Sands' eighth goal of the season and her seventh game winner, propelling Penn to another road win.
Penn allowed one goal, but it surely wasn't allowing a second, seeing out the final 10 minutes or so to leave New Haven, Conn. with three more points.
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