Penn Responds to Friday Loss with Sunday Win
from press release
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Any questions about whether a
tough loss to No. 1 Maryland Friday night would carry over to
Sunday's Ivy League tilt at Columbia were answered very quickly by
No. 8 Penn as the Red and Blue stormed out to a 5-1 lead over the
Lions and never looked back en route to a 13-6 win.
With the win, Penn improves to 8-2 this season and 4-0 inside the
Ivy League. The victory is the 33rd in a row inside the Ancient
Eight by the Quakers, three away from tying Harvard's Ivy-best
36-game streak from 1987-1993. The Red and Blue are the only 4-0
team in the Ivy League, joined as undefeated teams by 3-0 Dartmouth
and 2-0 Princeton.
Junior Erin Brennan scored a career-high five goals for Penn - all
of those goals coming in a remarkable first half for the former Ivy
Rookie of the Year. She had six total points in the first half,
tying her career high set against Harvard last season. With her six
points, Brennan moves into ninth place all-time on the Penn scoring
list with 131 career points. She is one point away from moving up
to seventh place. All nine players ahead of her on the chart
reached their rankings over the course of four seasons, while
Brennan has needed just two and a half years to do so. In addition,
Brennan's five goals give her 79 career goals for the Red and Blue.
She is now tied with current Penn assistant Melissa Lehman for 11th
all-time by a Penn player. Again, all 10 players ahead of her
reached their totals in four full seasons to Brennan two-plus.
Giulia Giordano got Penn on the board first, scoring 4:34 into the
game on an assist from Caroline Bunting. Just over three minutes
later, Brennan struck for her first of the game on an unassisted
tally.
Following a Columbia goal at the 10:11 mark, Penn went on a
three-goal run in a span of 41 seconds to erase any ideas of a
Columbia rally.
Maddie Poplawski struck first with 18:30 remaining in the first
half, polishing off a Brennan pass. 19 seconds later, Tory Bensen
took a Bridget Waclawik pass and deposited it behind the
keeper. 22 ticks of the clock later, Brennan connected on her
second of the day off an Alison Tatios feed. Poplawski's goal came
off a Columbia turnover, and the next two were the result of
clearly-controlled draws by Penn.
Penn again scored in quick succession in the final third of the
opening period. Following a Meredith Cain tally with 7:09 to play
in the first half, Poplawski won the draw, found Giordano who then
fed Brennan for her fourth of the game just 21 seconds after Cain's
goal. 52 seconds after that goal, Bunting passed off to Brennan who
struck for her fifth of the half to give Penn a 9-2 lead it held at
the break.
After a first half where eight of 11 goals came with an assist, the
second half saw seven of eight goals come unassisted. Four of those
goals were off the sticks of Penn players - from four different
players.
Tatios scored her third of the season 2:20 in to give Penn a 10-2
lead, followed by Bensen's second of the game 8:30 into the second
half to make the lead 11-3. After Columbia scored twice to make it
11-5, Poplawski scored her second of the afternoon with 10:13 left
in the game. Bunting followed with 6:05 left to make it 13-5.
Bunting finished with a career high in points with a goal and three
assists. Her four points erased her previous high of two points in
a game that she had accomplished five times.
Poplawski added seven draw controls in the game to her two goals.
She equaled the draw control total for the entire Columbia team as
Penn had a 14-7 advantage in that category. Lindsey Smith had three
ground balls to go with a caused turnover.
Emily Leitner made five saves in the win while Carly Churchill
played the final 9:52, making one save in her collegiate debut.
Karlee Blank had 14 saves in goal for Columbia, which was outshot
by Penn29-21 and 27-12 in terms of shots reaching goal.
The Quakers head to No. 2 Northwestern next Sunday at 1 p.m. EST
for a game with the Wildcats that will be televised live on the Big
Ten Network.
