Field Hockey: Tunnel Vision

A whistle blows, a foul is called, and senior field hockey midfielder Meghan Rose steps up to take a penalty stroke for the Quakers. She sets her feet, counts to three, and without looking at the goal rips a shot past the opposing keeper and calmly gets ready for the next play.

For the Quakers, that scene has unfolded quite a bit this year. Rose is four-for-four on penalty strokes, and five-for-five in her career.

"For her to first get that many, and to make them all, that's huge," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "She steps up there now, and I know it's going to go in . I've become confident because she's done it every time."

"She has her own routine, and she knows that she can put it in."

While four chances might not seem like a lot, penalty strokes rarely happen. In fact, no other player in the Ivy League has scored more than one this year, and last year Penn only had one penalty stroke the whole season. Rose scored that one, too.

Unlike in soccer, where any foul in the box results in a penalty kick, a penalty stroke in field hockey is only rewarded if the defender, or goalie, is the last line of defense and illegally interferes with a potential goal.

So what makes Rose so deadly at these rare attempts on making a goal from only seven yards away?

Although many players try to get fancy and aim high, Rose always aims low and to the goalkeeper's right.

"A lot of people stroke high, but my high-school coach told me that there's no need to do that and you can still hit lower corners and do well," Rose said. "So I worked on my speed and accuracy and I think my speed and accuracy are what make my stroke so good."

Her routine never changes - "I've been shooting the same way since my sophomore year of high school," she said - but goalies can't seem to stop her. Even Penn goalie Alanna Butera has had trouble in practice.

"Even though I know where she's going, and she never changes it, I still don't always save it," Butera said. "There are some areas of the cage that if a player hits the ball fast enough, even if you know where it's going you can't always stop it."

This dominating stroke has helped Penn and even led to some key goals.

"I've never had a more consistent stroker than Meghan," Cloud said. "In our situation it's much bigger than getting a corner."

Despite Rose's efficiency, the team practices penalty strokes only occasionally.

"Over the summer I practice them a lot, since when it's just you and a goal they're easy to do," she said.

Whether it's with practice on her own or against Butera, Rose has perfected her shot. So much, in fact, that Cloud can sum up the strokes in three words: "They are awesome."

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