PHILADELPHIA – Patience is a virtue.
 
That idiom especially hits home for the University of Pennsylvania field hockey team, which earned its first win of the season with a convincing, 5-2 victory over Cornell.
 
Other than it being Penn's first win of the season in its first Ivy League game, there were a flurry of other firsts to sweeten what was the Quakers' best performance of the season. Alexa Schneck—Penn's top scorer in 2018—opened the scoring with her first goal of the season. Freshman Elita van Staden and sophomore Maddy Fagan also opened their scoring accounts, with the pair each tallying two goals.
 
NOTES
*Penn more than doubled its goal total for the season after putting five into the Cornell cage.
 
*Fagan netted her first-career goal, tying the game at 2-2 midway through the second quarter. She scored her second near the end of the third quarter, showing composure to chip it over the Cornell goalkeeper to give Penn a 4-2 lead.
 
*Van Staden also opened her account today. The freshman gave the Quakers a 3-2 lead, converting on a penalty stroke. She capped off the scoring, hitting the ball into the roof of the net after a corner in the fourth quarter.
 
*Schneck netted her first goal of the season midway through the first quarter. She added an assist—also her first of the season—with a perfectly threaded pass to Fagan on Penn's fourth goal. The senior captain has now scored 12 goals and provided seven assists for 31 points in 22 career Ivy League games.
 
*Senior goalkeeper Ava Rosati came up with big saves to help spur Penn's come from behind victory. Her four saves on the day bring her season total to 33.
 
*Gracyn Banks and Laura Shelton both provided an assist today. The pair both have two assists on the season.
 
*For the fifth game this season, Banks played all 60 minutes. Shelton and Rosati both graced the field for all 60 minutes as well.
 
*The Quakers fired 18 this afternoon. It is Penn's fourth consecutive game with more than 16 shots and the Red and Blue have accumulated 72 total shots in those games.
 
*Penn's 13 shots on goal is a season high.
 
*Penn's 14 corners on the day is a season high.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Quakers needed a strong start in today's game to kick off Ivy League play in winning fashion. In the eighth minute of the game, that need came to fruition. Following a Cornell turnover, Schneck collected the ball in the middle of the park with plenty of green turf in front of her. She dribbled into the circle and unleashed a hard, backhanded shot across goal which rattled into the back of the cage to give Penn a 1-0 lead.
 
The Big Red would field a response later in the quarter as Grace Royer redirected a pass in front of goal which gently trickled past the outstretched arm of Rosati to tie it at 1-1.
 
Cornell took its first and only lead of the game just seconds into the second quarter. Off the opening faceoff, Royer found space down the left flank and scored with a near-post finish.
 
Penn upped its pressure and earned its fourth corner of the day in the 20th minute. Erin Kelly inserted to Banks at the top of the circle who launched a pass to a waiting Fagan at the far post. Fagan provided the finishing touch to tap it in and send the sides into halftime tied at 2-2.
 
Head coach Colleen Fink addressed her side during the ten-minute intermission and inspired the Quakers to come out strong in the second half. The defense battened down the hatches, allowing Cornell to get off three shots for the remainder of the game while the offense asked all the questions, getting off nine shots and earning nine corners.
 
Five minutes into the second half, Banks earned a penalty stroke for the Quakers after her shot beat the Cornell keeper but was stopped by the foot of a Big Red defender. Van Staden stepped up to the task and ripped a shot into the net to propel Penn back into the lead.
 
Cornell pushed to try and get back into the game. The Big Red earned a corner and looked to score, but a big time save by Rosati as well as some excellent blocks by Banks kept Penn up, 3-2. The stop would prove to be huge, as the Quakers doubled their lead moments later.
 
Schneck stepped up in midfield to intercept a wayward pass by Cornell. The senior captain threaded a perfectly weighted pass behind a Big Red back to Fagan, who burst into space. The sophomore showed composure, drawing the goalkeeper away from the cage and neatly chipping into the back of the cage to put Penn ahead, 4-2.
 
The two-goal lead wouldn't do it for the Quakers, who have showed desire throughout the season. Going into the fourth quarter, van Staden polished off the day with her second goal of the day and Penn's fifth.
 
Executing a corner routine drawn up on the training ground, Shelton stopped the ball at the top of the circle and swept to van Staden to her right. The South African collected and scooped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the left side of the goal. Perhaps the most impressive part of the goal was it coming with the Quakers down a player after a double yellow card.
 
Penn now sits at 1-5 on the season and undefeated in Ivy League play.
 
UP NEXT
The Quakers immediately look ahead to a trip up to North Broad for a matchup against Temple tomorrow at 1 p.m.