PROVIDENCE – The University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team stood toe-to-toe with 18th-ranked Brown for 109:30 on Saturday night before a controversial penalty kick sealed the game's fate in the second overtime.
Brown's 110th-minute goal from the penalty spot ended a tumultuous, nip-and-tuck match that included 35 fouls and never seemed to get into a rhythm. Senior keeper Kitty Qu was credited with 10 saves, her second-most of the season.
NOTES
*Kitty Qu's 10 saves are the second-most of the season, just behind the 13 she made at No. 3 Stanford.
*Penn falls to 1-5 when the opponent scores first and when its outshot.
*Playing in Providence proves difficult yet again as the Quakers move to 2-3-1 over their last six matches at Brown.
*The Red and Blue racked up a double-digit shot total for the 12th games this season.
*Eight Quakers gutted out a 110-minute performance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the third minute a foul enabled Penn to get the ball in the mixer. Chase Geffert took the free kick and it bounced around in the box, but was eventually cleared. Brown earned a similar opportunity in the fourth minute, but the shot attempt fell gently into Kitty Qu's hands.
The referee added his influence to the game a few times in the early going and, when he deemed a foul on Penn, the Bears were able to hoof another ball into the box. Megan Lloyd won the first header, and the second ball went straight up in the air, but Qu rose above the rest of the pack to make the catch.
Just after the half-hour mark and with the match still deadlocked at 0-0, the Quakers concocted their best chances of the half in quick succession. In the 35th minute, Sara Readinger played Emma Loving, who took two decisive touches forward before unleashing a shot. The attempt was blocked but fell nicely for Sizzy Lawton, who sidewinded a volley on target that forced Brown's keeper Kayla Thompson to sprawl out and make a top class save.
Not even two minutes later, off a corner kick, a Bears clearance only went as far as Emily Pringle at the top of the box. She hammered a shot with her left foot, making terrific contact but it just swerved wide of the far post.
The half ended with neither team finding the back of the onion bag, but both teams made their presences felt in a physical affair that recorded 16 fouls in the first 45.
The level of intensity remained high on the other side of halftime. The best chance of the first 10 minutes fell Brown's way, however, when Brittany Raphino took on a pair of defenders and then, while streaking to her right, placed a shot across her body to the far post but Qu just got her hand to the ball, pushing it off the woodwork and back in play.
In the 64th minute, the Quakers punched back. Pringle darted forward to intercept a pass and then won a 50/50 challenge, nutmegging a Brown defender before slipping a pass to Emily Sands. The senior striker took her shot on her first touch, but Thompson again put her hand to it and deflected it over the bar.
Penn's next chance came just about 10 minutes later when Breukelen Woodard shielded her defender in the box and then laid off a pass to Lloyd at the top of the box, but Lloyd's drive sailed high.
The Bears put together a flurry of chances down the stretch, but all ended without the bulging of the back of the net, forcing overtime.
Through the entirety of the extra periods, clear-cut chances were hard to come by and the match seemed destined to end in a scoreless draw until the referee inserted himself into proceedings. With 30 seconds left in the second overtime, an outrageously-controversial handball was called in the box, leading to a spot kick for the Bears., which sealed the game's fate.
UP NEXT
Penn finishes up the campaign on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Rhodes Field, hosting Princeton for Homecoming and Senior Day.
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