Senior forward Molly Weir did her best to break a scoreless deadlock for the women's soccer team. Playing against Yale, Weir rattled a shot off the crossbar in the 20th minute. Then in overtime, her shot from the right side forced the Bulldogs keeper to make a sliding save.
But in the end, the Quakers couldn't put one in the back of the net and had to settle for a 0-0 tie, seriously derailing their Ivy title hopes.
Lacking the finishing touch, the Red and Blue (8-4-3, 2-1-2 Ivy) didn't get any help from Yale goalie Ayana Sumiyasu either.
"The Yale goalkeeper made three spectacular saves," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said. "Their goalkeeper played tremendous."
Penn's defense, meanwhile, shut down a potent Bulldogs attack that features senior Maggie Westfall, who entered the weekend second in the Ancient Eight in goals and third in points.
Ambrose handed freshman defender Colleen Barry her first start, and she rewarded him by turning in a brilliant defensive performance, keeping Westfall off the scoresheet. Junior goalkeeper Cailly Carroll registered her second straight shutout.
"It was a team effort on the defending side," Ambrose said. "Overall, I think everybody gave everything they had and that's all you can ask."
The Quakers are now in fourth place in the Ivy League with eight points, four behind first-place Harvard, which the Quakers beat, 2-0, in the Crimson's only loss this season. But, Penn has sputtered in its most recent three Ivy encounters, going 0-1-2.
Thus, the Red and Blue no longer control their own destiny. They need to win their final games - home against Brown and at Princeton - but they also need Harvard to go winless and Columbia to fare no better than 1-0-1.
And as the Bears come to Franklin Field this weekend, Penn has an old score to settle.
"They beat us with seconds left in the game," Ambrose said. "A lot of these kids are chomping at the bit."
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