PHILADELPHIA – Alexa Hoover scored on a penalty stroke just 17 seconds into overtime to hand the Penn field hockey team a 3-2 victory over Cornell this afternoon on Ellen Vagelos Field in Philadelphia. The game was a wild one, with three goals scored in the final six minutes of regulation before Hoover's strike moved the Quakers to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in the Ivy League.
Penn held the slight edge in shots (15-13) and shots on goal (8-7), while the Big Red had the advantage in penalty corners (8-6).
Krysten Mayers and
Marisa Siergiej scored for Cornell, with
Katy Weeks,
Isabel Siergiej and
Taylor Standiford all earning assists.
Alexa Hoover, the nation's leading scorer, tallied a pair of goals, while Gina Guccione scored the final goal with 1:45 to play, erasing the Big Red's comeback bid.
In goal, both Cornell's
Kelly Johnson and Penn's Liz Mata stopped four shots apiece, and each team received a defensive save from a field player.
A fantastic defensive save by
Luisa Schulte-Bockum, who batted a Penn shot out of the air before it could cross the goal line, spoiled a great chance by the Quakers at set the tone for the game early on.
Hoover got Penn on the board in the 25th minute when she took a pass from Rachel Huang on the right side of the circle and blasted a shot that ricocheted off Johnson's pads into the right corner of the goal.
Cornell responded with three great chances, the first coming in a reverse stick shot by Weeks that was turned away by Mata. Moments later, Mayers had a breakaway, but while evading Mata she pulled the ball into foot and was called for the foul. Next,
Katie Carlson had a chance as she weaved along the baseline. She beat Mata but was under pressure and unable to put the shot on cage.
The second half saw good chances for both teams, including a post and a hit crossbar by Cornell in a span of 41 seconds, before the Big Red earned the equalizer with just 5:33 to play in the contest when Mayers took a pass from Weeks on the far side of the circle and beat Mata near post to make it a 1-1 contest.
The action came fast and furious in the waning moments of the game, as
Marisa Siergiej scored a penalty corner goal in the 67th minute on a direct strike to hand the Big Red a 2-1 lead, but just moments later, Gina Guccione tied the game with a close range shot to send the contest to overtime.
The Big Red is back in action when it hosts Columbia in its Ivy League home-opener at Marsha Dodson Field on Saturday, Oct. 3, before travelling to Syracuse the following day for a contest at 2 p.m.
