Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Facing a 3-0 deficit early in the second half against Pen at Vagelos Field Saturday afternoon, the Yale field hockey team fought back with a pair of goals in a span of just over five minutes. But Penn, which had won 11 of its last 12 games, regrouped and tacked on one more goal to come away with a 4-2 win.
Penn (12-2, 4-1 Ivy League) enjoyed a 10-3 shot advantage and a 9-0 penalty corner advantage in the first half, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on goals by attacker/midfielder Elise Tilton and attacker Sofia Palacios. Penn goalkeeper Liz Mata turned aside a shot by freshman forward/midfielder Katerina Toffoloni with 90 seconds left in the half to thwart one of the Bulldogs' best chances.
Just over two minutes into the second half Penn scored again, this time on a ball that got deflected in off a Yale stick. Quakers attacker Elizabeth Hitti was credited with the goal.
Yale (2-11, 0-5 Ivy League) got a much-needed spark from its penalty corner unit on the Bulldogs' first corner of the game. Assisted by senior midfielder Nicole Wells, the Bulldogs' inserter, sophomore forward/midfielder Carol Middough rifled in her seventh goal of the year at 42:50 to get Yale on the scoreboard. The assist was the 10th of Wells' career, putting her in a tie for 20th on Yale's all-time list.
Shortly after Penn's second green card of the half, with just over 24 minutes to play, the Bulldogs earned another corner and used it to keep momentum headed in their favor. Middough once again took a hard shot, and this time sophomore back Kiwi Comizio got in position to tip it in for her second goal of the season -- both in the last two games.
"Kiwi has found herself in a position to score off rebounds and get touches on corners," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey. "She has found her niche."
Senior back Noelle Villa, Yale's captain, kept the game in reach with a spectacular defensive save with less than 19 minutes to play. The Bulldogs got a corner three minutes later but could not get the equalizer, though, and Penn called timeout for a corner with 15:42 left.
The Quakers scored shortly after that corner, as attacker Alexa Hoover netted her 28th goal of the year. She entered the week leading the nation in goals per game (1.92) and was second in points per game (4.33).
That goal gave Penn a much-needed cushion. Wells nearly deflected in a pass from Comizio with 5:30 to play, but that proved to be the Bulldogs' final threat. Mata finished with three saves while Yale junior Emilie Katz made 10.
"In the second half we started to gain momentum, and our team took advantage of that," said Stuper. "We just couldn't get that third goal to tie things up. For a young team going up against a great goal-scoring team, it was a good sign that -- even after we went down 3-0 -- we kept battling."
Yale hosts Bucknell Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
