PHILADELPHIA – A top-25 battle was the No. 24 University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team's return to Franklin Field on Wednesday night, the first game on its home turf since its home opener back in February. Trading scores with No. 10 Maryland, the Terps used a fourth-quarter push to take the 16-12 decision.
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The Quakers move to 4-3 for the season with all three coming to top-25 opponents, while Maryland shifts to 8-3.
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Quaker Notemeal
*All of the Penn scoring came from three Quakers:
Anna Brandt,
Maria Themelis and
Niki Miles.
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*For the third time this season and second straight, Brandt found the back of the net five times, a game-high mark for the sophomore. Through seven games this season, she has scored 21 goals, while expanding her scoring streak to 14 straight games.
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*Themelis tied her career high in scoring with four goals, only needing five shots, all of which were on target.
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*Miles continued her scoring tear as well, adding three more goals to bring her season total to 19. It's the fourth time this season she has scored at least three goals, while also finding the back of the net in all seven games
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*Senior
Kelly Van Hoesen had a strong game in the net, pulling in 12 saves through her 60 minutes of work. Her 12 saves helped her blow past a career milestone, making 107 saves through 19 games.
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*Penn was slightly edged out in shots for the game, 34-30.
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*The Quaker defense forced the Terps into 11 turnovers, led by
Aly Feeley with two caused.
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*The ground ball game was led by Van Hoesen, pulling in four of the team's 15.
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*Maryland won the draw control for the night, 23-9.
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How It Happened
Penn had the lead three different times in the game, spread out among the first three quarters. The first advantage was right out of the gate, seeing Brandt maneuver her way into her first of five goals just 32 seconds into the start.
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Over the next four minutes, the Terps responded with two of their own to take their first lead, but Brandt capitalized on a woman-up opportunity to draw it even at 2-2 by the 7:29 mark.
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Through the closing seven minutes of the first, the squads traded two goals each, as Miles cashed in on her first and Brandt landed her hat trick to carry a 4-4 tie into the second frame.
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In a very similar fashion, the second opened just like the first did with Brandt going unassisted on her fourth of the contest to give the Quakers the lead once again, 5-4. However, this time Maryland responded with three straight to jump out to a two-goal advantage with 11:57 left in the half.
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Themelis joined the scoring party shortly after, slowing down the Terp offense with her first goal. It paid dividends for several minutes, but Maryland added two more to take a three-goal advantage midway through the frame. If anything, it ignited the Quaker offense. Before the half, Themelis fired off two more goals to send the game to the half with Penn trailing by one, 9-8.
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On the restart, the momentum continued to build for the Quakers. By the 8:32 mark, Brandt found the back of the net for the fifth time to draw the game even and Miles followed minutes later with another goal to reclaim the lead for Penn.
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The advantage was silenced two minutes later when the Terps put away the equalizer, then tacked on six more through the fourth quarter to take a 16-10 lead with 2:40 left in the game. Themelis and Miles each scored in the closing two minutes, but the gap was too much to overcome.
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Up Next
The Quakers continue at home this weekend, hosting Georgetown on Sunday at Franklin Field. The game will be Penn's annual One Love game, taking first draw at 1 p.m.
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