It's only the start of the season, but history has already been made.
As the bright blue skies faded into pitch black, Penn decimated Temple in a 14-3 city-rivalry victory. In the team-wide scoring effort and strong defensive performance, senior midfielder Anna Brandt officially became the program’s all-time leading goal scorer.
After a standout seven-goal performance against Johns Hopkins, Brandt returned to Philadelphia with only two goals standing between herself and the top of the record books.
Her first goal of the day — the record-tying goal — came in the waning seconds of the first quarter. But after that, Brandt couldn’t find the back of the net until the fourth quarter. She finished the day shooting 2-11.
At the start of the third quarter, Brandt’s shot bounced off the crossbar and bounced by the goal line. Play continued on and sophomore attacker Catherine Berkery nailed it in to score, but it was another close call for Brandt on her quest to history.
But then, she made history.
The last goal of the game was all hers. Immediately off the draw control, Brandt ran the ball all the way to the cage to score her 149th career goal.
“It’s so symbolic to be home for it, to be on this field specifically. I think I had my first Penn practice as a freshman on this field, so it really means a lot,” Brandt said. “I think it’s this team’s accomplishment — this group of people the coaches have developed and the team they built. It’s a testament to that. Because I’m only as good as the other girls out there with me, so it’s really their record too.”
And they celebrated like it was their record too. Coach Karin Corbett took a timeout a few plays later and all the Quakers (2-1) ran out to celebrate together with Brandt.
No mercy
The game started in a deadlock in the first quarter. The score sat at 1-1 for much of the first quarter. Despite Penn’s attempts, Temple goalkeeper Taylor Grollman was an impenetrable wall who saved shot after shot.
But after Brandt’s first goal of the day, Penn never looked back.
The Quakers went on a seven-goal scoring run in the second quarter. But it was not just a one-woman machine fueling them in a blowout win. It was an undisputed team effort during the run that put them up 8-1 to end the half. By halftime, seven different players scored, including two by freshman midfielder Lela Greene.
The mentality of pedal to the metal was most apparent in those waning seconds of the second quarter. After gaining draw control with less than a minute on the clock, Brandt turned it into a dead sprint. She passed to senior defender Natasha Gorriaran who passed to Greene. She then fired a missile to the back of the net, a resounding goal that further buried Temple (1-3) .
Their unanswered scoring run continued in the third quarter with four more goals – two of which were from Berkery off assists from senior attacker Erika Chung. Berkery finished with four — tying her career high.
Defense wins championships
Today, the Quakers ruffled the Owls’ feathers on offense again and again. The Owls turned the ball over 20 times, including a shot clock violation, and couldn’t get any offense rhythm going with only 12 shots.
“We played a real high-pressure zone and I thought they did a really good job and kind of frazzled Temple a little bit,” Corbett said. “They covered a lot of ground and really played the defense like we needed them to today.”
A new standout on defense is right at the cage: freshman goalkeeper Orly Sedransk. She had five saves before being substituted in the fourth quarter for junior goalkeeper Caitlin Noack. A notable save of hers came in the second quarter. When tasked with defending a free position goal, Sedransk practically dropped into a split to save the ball at the corner of the post.
“She’s just really quick. Especially against Hopkins she had some amazing saves, she pulled out some good saves today,” Corbett said. “We knew she was going to be an impact player for us, and she’s really been showing that the last couple games.”
“We’re never really satisfied.”
While it was a blowout win, all was not perfect for the Red and Blue.
They fell behind in the battle for the draws initially, with Temple holding the lead 4-1. But as the game went on, they started to find their rhythm more. Sophomore defender Maggie Bankowski was tasked with taking much of the draws but she and the rest of the draw control unit started rolling as the game went on, winning the draw control battle 13-8.
Notably, Penn’s poor shooting in the first quarter slowed them down. They took 40 shots on the day — 25 of which were on goal.
“I think we were not taking great angle shots. I think we were just shooting to shoot. And I think we were rushing the feeds in and at that finish, we weren’t really seeing the net,” Corbett said. “We talked about seeing her and the net behind [goalkeeper Grollman], so I think we started to shoot a little better, which I thought was great.”
Corbett noted that playing “all seven of them working as a unit” will be important in their next matchup at No. 7 Michigan on March 1.
“We keep moving forward. We’re always grateful but we’re never really satisfied,” Brandt said. “We’ll take this win, we’ll walk away feeling confident, feeling proud of what we did do well. But we’ll use it as a learning experience and figure out what we need to do better to beat Michigan.”
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