CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A second-half counter attack proved fatal as the University of Pennsylvania women's soccer team dropped a tough, 1-0 decision to Harvard on Saturday afternoon.
Kitty Qu made six saves and the Quakers managed seven shots in the second half, including a flurry of chances in the final 10 minutes, but just couldn't inch one across the line.
NOTES
*Penn increased its streak to 28 Ivy League games without allowing more than one goal.
*Harvard beat Penn for the first time in three chances.
*Last year, Penn became the first team since 2008 to win at least a share of the Ivy title without winning its first game. The Quakers will have another run at that in 2019.
*Emily Sands led Penn with three shots and freshman Ella Wright added two more.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Things started slow for both teams as 10 minutes ticked off the clock before the first shot of the game was on the board. Harvard, playing with a significant wind advantage in the first half, recorded six shots before Penn earned its first chance.
Harvard's best chance of the first half – in addition to hitting the crossbar in the 11th minute – came in the 33rd minute when a second ball popped in behind the Penn defense, but Kitty Qu was quick off her line to eliminate the danger.
On the road, Penn seemed to settle in toward the end of the first half and created its first chance in the 36th minute when Abbey Duncan played in Ella Wright down the left wing, but the freshman's shot sailed high.
Penn managed to get into the halftime break locked in to a 0-0 score after 45 minutes.
To open the second half, in the 48th minute, Emily Sands and Allie Schachter connected in a three-man move that led to Schachter sending a ball into the path of Katharine Larson down the left wing. Larson's cross was sorted out, but the Quakers were on the front foot early on.
In the 51st minute, after knocking around a few passes, Sands had a sight at goal and had a go, but she pulled it just wide. Harvard rebounded and leveled Penn's intensity, creating two chances of their own in the next few minutes. Qu was up to the task, making a save and then coming off her line to disrupt a cross.
On goal kicks, Harvard chose to play out of the back for much of the afternoon. In the 61st minute, though, that almost proved fatal for the Crimson. Penn's high press won the ball when Jadyn Wilensky deflected a pass to Breukelen Woodard. Woodard played Schachter, who gave Emma Loving the ball on the right wing. Loving hit a dangerous ball across the box to Larson, but she was deemed offside.
The Crimson delivered the destructive blow in the 72nd minute, when they transitioned from defense to offense in a quick counter attack. Gabby DelPico's shot tucked into the left corner, just passing Qu's outstretched right arm.
The Red and Blue dug in. In the 79th minute, Paige Howard worked into the box and got a shot off, but it sailed high. Three minutes later, for Penn's best chance of the afternoon, Wilensky whipped a teasing ball into the box. Sands managed to get in front of her defender and get her head on it, but the Harvard keeper moved to make the save.
Penn kept pushing more players forward. With just over three minutes to play, Wright won the ball down the right wing and drove with a purpose at the Crimson center backs. She slipped the ball across the box, it bounced to Sands but her left-footed volley just swung off target. Just over a minute later, Larson managed to get a shot off, but it fell in the hands of the Harvard keeper.
Fighting to the buzzer, Wright put a shot on target in the final five seconds, but again it was turned away.
UP NEXT
Penn returns to Rhodes Field on Saturday, Oct. 5 to host Cornell at 2 p.m.
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