PHILADELPHIA – Within the friendly confines of Rhodes Field, the University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team fought through a 90-minute rain delay to take care of business and defeat Towson 2-0 on Monday evening.
Rhodes Field became somewhat of a fortress during Penn's 2018 Ivy League championship season, pitching seven shutouts and an impressive record of 6-1-1 in University City. On Monday, in the Quakers' first game at home this season, Emily Sands and freshman Sizzy Lawton took advantage of their chances to score, while Penn's defense and keeper Kitty Qu worked through an unblemished 90 minutes for the first clean sheet of the season.
NOTES
*Emily Sands earned her first game-winning goal of the season after scoring seven during 2018 – the third-most in the country.
*Freshman Sizzy Lawton scored just 30 seconds into the second half to double Penn's lead.
*Kitty Qu secured her 20th solo shutout of her career, raising her record.
*Last year, Penn locked down opponents to record 12 clean sheets in 16 games. Monday marked the first of the season for the Quakers in 2019.
*Jackie Bruder, through two games, has already matched her point total from her last year, her freshman year. She has recorded a goal and an assist in two games this year.
*Emma Loving assisted on both goals on Monday, giving her three assists for the season. Loving entered this year with two assists in her career. She now has five after two games.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Towson, fresh off a shutout victory over Mount St. Mary's came out firing at Rhodes Field on Monday. An early chance forced a quick reaction save from Kitty Qu to keep the game scoreless. After the first 10-15 minutes, though, Penn settled in and began to really control the middle of the field.
During a day filled with tricky weather, a Sandstorm erupted in the 19th minute. Sizzy Lawton and Emily Sands connected in the middle of the field before Sands wrapped her left foot around a through ball to Emma Loving. Loving barely beat the Tigers' keeper to the ball, touched it away from her, faced the goal and then found Jackie Bruder, who was making a run towards Loving. Bruder flicked her pass on her first touch past the Towson defender and into Sands' feet. Sands, a senior, bullied her defender to the ground and then hammered the ball into the far corner to give Penn a 1-0 lead.
After scoring, the Red and Blue really began to ratchet up the pressure. One of the best chances came in the 35th minute when Paige Howard made her past a defender and into the box, but her attempt on goal was snuffed out.
The first half didn't go without some scares, though. In the 41st minute, after a Towson attacker streaked into the box and managed to direct a header on goal, Qu dove to her right and was able to get her fingertips to the ball, pushing it on to the post and then out of danger.
Penn entered the halftime break up 1-0, but that lead doubled… fast. Just 30 seconds into the second half, Loving streaked down the left flank and whipped a ball into Lawton's feet. The freshman won a 50-50 tackle then danced between two other defenders before calmly finishing past the keeper for her first career goal.
From there, things were going according to plan before a 90-minute rain delay halted process. Following the delay, Towson made one last charge but, ultimately, the Quakers managed the game en route to their first shutout victory of the season.
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