Field Hockey | Cloud's lifting: Four straight for Quakers

It was a fitting end to Senior Day. Ten minutes into overtime, senior Rachel Eng took a pass from classmate Nina Ferrier on a two-on-one, shimmied around a diving Brown keeper, Caroline Washburn, and lifted the game-winner over an onrushing defender.

"Nina gave me a great pass," said Eng, who scored in her fifth-straight game. "I couldn't go right and I saw the goalie, so I had to go left."

With the 2-1 victory, the Quakers have now won four in a row, a remarkable turnaround from their early season woes.

The season-high crowd of 250 erupted after Eng ended the game with a spectacular display of skill.

"It was very fun to have a ton of alumni," senior captain Meredith Moran said.

Penn junior forward Kelsey Tahan needed only 3:46 to open the scoring. On a restart from 15 yards out, Moran slammed the ball towards the goal mouth. Brown goalie Caroline Washburn misplayed the bouncing ball, and an outstretched Tahan poked the ball into the back of the net for her third goal of the season.

The Red and Blue continued to apply offensive pressure for the rest of the first half. Eng used her outstanding stickhandling and speed to frustrate Bears defenders, but Washburn came up big. Penn entered the break up only 1-0, unable to capitalize on six corner opportunities.

Over a two-minute period, for instance, the Quakers earned four corners - which led to just one shot.

"Some games you score [on corners], some games you don't," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "It's hard to prepare, because teams defend them differently."

The second started with more of the same, with the Quakers pounding the net. But as the half progressed Brown fought back.

In the 54th minute, the Bears won a corner off a muffed Penn restart in the circle. Senior goalkeeper Alanna Butera charged out of the goal to challenge the oncoming shot, which was shanked. The ball rolled right to Brown forward Leslie Springmeyer, who calmly put it into the open net.

Penn continued to threaten, but the Bears' defense held up. Brown had its best chance with 13 minutes remaining, when the ball rolled straight across the goal line. But nobody was there to put it home; the deadlock remained, setting up the seven-on-seven, sudden-death display of speed and grit that is field hockey overtime.

The Red and Blue visit Princeton - sitting atop the Ivy standings and ranked No. 11 in the nation - next weekend. Despite being eliminated already, the Quakers are still looking to play spoiler.

"If we can beat Princeton," senior co-captain Margaretha Ehret said, "it will make my career."

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