The women's soccer team (6-6-4, 2-3-1 Ivy) defeated Penn (8-5-3, 2-2-2) in Philadelphia on Saturday, knocking the Quakers out of contention from the Ivy title race. With an overtime goal by tri-captain Lindsay Cunningham '09 and an outstanding effort from goalkeeper Steffi Yellin '10, the Bears completed their fourth shutout win of the season with a 1-0 score.
The game's first half witnessed very balanced play between both sides. While the teams played evenly matched soccer, the Quakers held an edge on the offensive side of the ball with a 3-0 advantage in shots on goal through the first 45 minutes of play. It wasn't until the half's final minute of play that the Bears challenged the Penn goalkeeper, when Bridget Ballard '10 sent a shot toward the net, forcing her to make her first save of the game.
Halftime did little to interrupt the overall equal tenor of the game, with Penn gaining a very slight 6-5 advantage in shots. In keeping with the first half, the second half lacked any outstanding plays. Yellin made sure of that, making two more saves to add to her three from the first half.
"I was excited to be back on the field again," said Yellin, who has spent most of the season backing up Brenna Hogue '10. "Penn's style of offense is conducive to the way I play. I tried to come off my line as much as I could just to stop shots from happening."
A final unsuccessful stand by the hosts came with the Quakers outshooting the Bears 4-1 in the closing 15 minutes of regulation.
In the most dangerous scoring attempt thus far in the game, a Penn corner kick nearly resulted in a goal with just under 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Sylvia Stone '11 blocked the following header by the Quaker midfielder, keeping the tied score at the half's close.
"I think that (Penn) realized that the time was running down to score a goal, but our defense did a really good job," Yellin said. "They made my job pretty easy I think. ... Just in general our team played pretty solid."
Taking the field for overtime, both teams were looking to score first in the sudden-victory overtime format. The Quakers' fate within the Ivies depended upon their ability to win the game. Both sides were a little too aggressive, each earning a yellow card within the opening 24 seconds of overtime, but Brown's strategy remained the same as it had throughout regulation.
"We played a strong first and second half," Cunningham said. "We didn't really change anything."
In the sixth minute of overtime, this effort paid off when Cunningham broke away to score her third game-winning goal of the season.Stone sent a through-ball to Cunningham, who fired a shot past the Penn goalkeeper into the upper left corner of the net for the game-winner.
"It was definitely the highlight of the game," Yellin said. "It was pretty nice."
Cunningham leads the team with six goals and 14 points on the season, closing out a week in which she and Ballard were named CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District. When asked about the game, however, Cunningham spoke about her teammate's exceptional game in goal.
"Our goalkeeper, Steffi (Yellin), really played an amazing game," Cunningham said. "She came off the goal line and made some amazing stops."
Indeed, Yellin's first start of the season was amazing, as she manufactured her fifth career shutout with four saves throughout the 96-minute game.
Brown will return to Stevenson Field to host Yale, with whom they are currently tied, on Saturday night at 7 p.m. This final game of the season serves as Senior Night for the Bears' class of 2009: Cunningham, Jamie Mize, Alex Michael, Yeilani Figueroa, Emily Geldwert and Julie Wu.
"It's going to be sad," Cunningham said, "but it'll be nice to play with all of us in the starting lineup."
Bruno is currently tied for fifth place in the Ivy League. The Bears have one more shot to recapture the success that they had during the first half of the season. With a win against Yale and a Penn loss to Princeton, the Bears can rise in the standings to take sole possession of fourth place and close out the seniors' careers on a high note.
