PHILADELPHIA – Less than 48 hours after returning from a cross-country trip culminating in a road matchup at third-ranked Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team hosts Towson on Monday evening at Rhodes Field.
Penn fell to the Cardinal, a College Cup squad in 2018, but land in University City stocked with positives from the experience. Sophomore Jackie Bruder scored for the Quakers, pouncing on a tremendous fizzed ball across the box from Emma Loving, and senior keeper Kitty Qu made a career-high 13 saves against one of the more potent offensives in college soccer.
Ivy League on ESPN
You will be able to find all Penn home women's soccer matches, as well as road Ivy matches, on ESPN+ this fall with the same high broadcast quality you used to get from the Ivy League Network. ESPN+ is a new, subscription-based service that offers monthly ($4.99) and yearly ($49.99) plans. Go to plus.espn.com to subscribe, or go to ivyleague.com to find more information.
MATCH DAY 2 – Penn (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. Towson (1-2, 0-0 CAA)
Monday, Sept. 2 | 3 p.m. | Rhodes Field | Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
Series Information
Penn leads 3-1-1 | Last meeting: 2018 (Penn 1-0)
Last year, the Quakers went to Towson and picked up a 1-0 road win. Penn is 2-0-1 against the Tigers in the most recent three matches.
The Sandstorm Enters TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top 100
Senior forward Emily Sands, who finished 2018 with an unthinkable seven game-winning goals – the third-most in the country – begins her final campaign inside TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top 100 watch list at No. 97. Sands led Penn last year with eight goals and two assists, earning first-team All-Ivy honors.
Ivy League Champions
Last season, Penn clinched a share of the Ivy League championship, its first since 2010 and fourth all-time. The Quakers became the first team since 2008 to win the title without winning its league opener, a 0-0 draw with Harvard. Penn shared the title with Princeton, who handed the Quakers their only league loss of the season and snatched the NCAA Tournament bid in the process.
Reloading All-Ivy Honorees
The Quakers return a bevy of difference makers from last year's championship team, including first-team All-Ivy standouts Sands and goalkeeper Kitty Qu, honorable mention All-Ivy pick Megan Lloyd and Chase Geffert, an honorable mention player from 2017.
Defensive Prowess
Penn hung its hat largely on its organization defensively, leading the nation in multiple categories. Penn allowed just five goals in 2018 – the fewest in program history – and wrapped up the year as the nation's best in goals-against average (.30), save percentage (.924) and shutout percentage (.75). The Quakers will attempt to run it back with a stifling group, returning Qu in net, Geffert and Lloyd, in addition to promising freshman center back Peyton Raun and outside backs with plenty of experience in Laura Hamilton, Katharine Larson and Jadyn Wilensky.
Penn went more than 1,000 minutes without conceding last year and finished with 12 shutouts in 16 matches.
Leading The Qu
Qu snapped the single-season program records for GAA (.35) and save percentage (.912) and also broke the career record for solo shutouts (19). Qu racked up a career-high 13 saves in a remarkable performance at No. 3 Stanford on Friday night.
Winning At The Death
In 2018, Penn entered the halftime break deadlocked at 0-0 nine times. In eight of those second halves, the Quakers found the difference maker to win while drawing the other.
Talking Towson
Towson arrives in University City at 1-2, suffering losses to Old Dominion (4-1) and Marist (3-0), but with some pep in its step after a 2-0 win over Mount St. Mary's on Thursday evening.
#FightOnPenn
