Box Score
ITHACA, N.Y. -- No. 7 Penn exploded for the game's final nine goals to break a 6-6 tie midway through the second half to capture a 15-6 victory on Sunday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Quakers improved to 8-1 (3-0 Ivy) with the victory, while the Big Red lost its fourth straight game to slip to 2-6 (1-2 Ivy).
With the game tied 6-6, the Quakers took the lead for good on the first of two cosnecutive goals by Giulia Giordano with 14:42 remaining to go up 7-6. It was all Penn the rest of the way, scoring six of its goals in the final 8:25 to run away with the contest late.
Ali DeLuca scored five goals and added an assist, while Emma Spiro scored four times for Penn. Giordano had two goals and two assists and Erin Brennan chipped in a goal and two assists in the victory. In goal, Emily Szelest made four saves to pick up the win. After losing eight of the first 10 draws to the Big Red, Penn won nine of the final 13. The visitors out-shot Cornell 29-17.
Cornell got three goals from
Jessi Steinberg and two more from
Libby Johnson, while
Kyla Dambach and
Courtney Gallagher combined for five saves in goal. Senior
Tissy O'Connor had two ground balls, two draw controls and caused two turnovers and
Katie Kirk notched a goal and three draws.
Neither team led by more than two goals over the first 48:17 in a game that was as nip-and-tuck as any over the first month of the season. Penn jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the Big Red scored twice in the final 5:22 of the first half to send the game into halftime tied at 3-3. Cornell answered Quaker goals three different times to open the second half, scoring the equalizer less than two minutes after the go-ahead goal each time.
After watching each run stopped quickly, Penn was able to take control and go up 9-6 as Giordano scored twice and assisted on the third goal in the run. That deflated the Big Red, as Penn scored six unanswered in the final nine minutes to turn the game and push the scoring margin well beyond what anyone watching the game would have thought.
Cornell returns to action when it heads to Princeton on Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m.
