Sept. 14, 2011

Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - Behind a solid offensive and defensive effort, the Lafayette field hockey team defeated the University of Pennsylvania, 4-1, on Wednesday night at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The Leopards improve to 2-3 with the win, while Penn drops to 0-4 on the year.

"Penn is a tough team to play on the road and I'm happy with the win," head coach Andrew Griffiths said. "Our defense was really strong tonight and we executed our penalty corners efficiently. We also got good minutes from a lot of different players and it turned out to be a total team win."

The first marker of the game came late in the first half, at 33:06, when Carolyn Cabrey tallied her second goal of the season, giving the Leopards a 1-0 lead going into the break. Maria Machalick assisted the score, the first of her three helpers in the match.

Ninety seconds after halftime, Lafayette extended its lead when Machalick connected with Kelsey Mead, who beat Penn's goaltender Kieran Sweeney, for the 2-0 advantage. Mead's tally was her second of the season and proved to be the game-winner.

Less than five minutes later and following a penalty corner, Machalick set up Brittany Blass, who found the back of the cage, increasing the Leopards advantage to 3-0.

The Quakers cut into the lead at the 44:16 mark when Helene Caniglia beat Mara Kish after a corner. Caniglia's goal was the only one surrendered by Kish, who made five saves in the contest.

Deanna DiCroce added an insurance goal on a breakaway at 52:51, which concluded the game's scoring. DiCroce's goal was unassisted and was her third of the year.

The Maroon and White controlled the game statistically, outshooting Penn, 17-9, and led in penalty corners, 7-6.

Lafayette wraps up a three-game road trip on Friday night when it travels back to Philadelphia to take on Drexel at 7 p.m.