Quakers’ overtime over way too quickly

Friday night’s game was a tale of two emotions for the Penn field hockey team. First, the Quakers were riding an extreme high after coming back from a 2-0 second half deficit to tie Cornell with two minutes left in regulation at Franklin Field. Then, three minutes later, it was a dejected low as Cornell’s Catie de Stio scored the decisive goal only 22 seconds into overtime. At the end of the night, all the Quakers ended up with was a hard-fought, 3-2 loss that left many of them in tears. “We really wanted it. We gave it our all to just get mad and just get it in the cage,” senior captain Sarah Warner said. “The first two goals, we didn’t want to accept them — we just had to get back. It was just tough.” De Stio was a problem for the Red and Blue all night, as Cornell’s two regulation goals also came off her stick. The first, 9:59 into the contest, was an unassisted tally that deflected off Penn keeper Kieran Sweeney’s pads. De Stio’s second goal early in the second half also came unassisted, and Cornell coach Donna Hornibrook described it as a “wrist-flick” that just “rolled into the net.” Exactly five minutes later, Penn (2-4, 0-1 Ivy) got the spark it was looking for — maybe from one of the most unlikely sources. Freshman Sarah Hasson’s unassisted goal — the first score of her college career — was a result of fine stickwork to maintain possession of the ball. “We needed someone like that to do that,” Warner said, “and I’m glad it was one of our best freshmen.” Late in the second half, the Quakers’ upperclassmen decided to take the game into their own hands. Senior midfielder Katie Rose took a Warner shot off the corner and deflected it in past Cornell goalkeeper Melanie Jue to tie the game at two goals apiece. While Hornibrook admitted that “it felt like we were a little bit bunkering in instead of continuing to attack upfield” in the second half, the comeback was due more to the Quakers’ solid play. “Definitely give [Penn] credit for the second half,” she said. Unfortunately for the Quakers, Cornell (5-0, 1-0) has had recent experience playing in overtime. “We were in overtime last weekend, and we got it done in a minute and a half,” Hornibrook said, “and we were like, ‘Hey, it’s a new game. It’s gonna be more space. Let’s take care of the ball and let’s get it done’.” While an overtime loss is a tough pill to swallow, the end result was bittersweet. “[We needed to] pick it up. We were lazy, I think,” Warner said of her team’s first-half performance. “We had to get moving, get ready to go in, and we fought back and I’m really proud of us.” — Sports Editor Noah Rosenstein contributed reporting to this article.

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