LEWISBURG, Pa. – Behind an Emily Sands brace, the University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team scored another shutout victory, blanking Bucknell 2-0 on the road on Friday evening.
Sands, who entered with a team-high four points, she doubled her total with a goal in each half against the Bison to earn the result. Kitty Qu made five saves in net, securing another shutout – Penn's third of the young season, just five games in.
NOTES
*The Quakers, who racked up 12 shutouts a year ago, recorded their third of the season. It was Qu's second this year and raised the program record to 21 in her career.
*Last year's leading scorer, Emily Sands, buried two goals, her second-career multi-goal game. Sands finished 2018 with eight goals and two assists. Through five games, Sands has already accounted for three goals and two assists.
*In the Red and Blue's last matchup with a Patriot League opponent, Sands scored the game winner at Lehigh in 2018.
*Breukelen Woodard has now tallied a point in three consecutive games, having scored against Fairfield and Mount St. Mary's last week and assisting on Sands' first goal of the game.
*Penn is now 6-3-3 all-time against Bucknell, avenging a 1-0 loss from 2017, the pair's last meeting.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn earned the lion's share of chances through the early going on Friday evening before Emily Sands pounced on her first scoring opportunity in the 24th minute to give Penn the breakthrough and an early 1-0 lead.
Despite the deflating blow of conceding, Bucknell battled back. Rylee Donaldson jumped on a loose ball and was able to dribble around keeper Kitty Qu before taking a shot on an open net. Because Qu forced her wide and cut down the angle, Donaldson couldn't get much on her shot, allowing a recovering Peyton Raun to chase down the ball on the goal line and clear the danger. That enabled the Quakers to take its 1-0 lead into the break.
In just the 51st minute, that lead doubled. When the Bison's keeper Kaylee Donnelly raced off her line to attempt a clearance, Sands cut it off and was able to loft her volley from more than 25 yards out into the open net.
Less than 10 minutes later, it almost became 3-0. Breukelen Woodard got on the end of a cross and directed her first-touch shot on goal, but Donnelly was there to parry it away, almost putting it in Sands' path, but she couldn't quite reach the rebound.
Despite securing a bunch of the possession, Penn still had things to do in the back. After a big ball, Qu came racing off her line in the 64th minute and eliminated the opportunity. In total, Qu was credited with five saves to secure the Quakers' third shutout of the season.
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