The women’s soccer team had a frustrating matchup against Penn, as it fell 2-1 on Friday night in Philadelphia. This loss makes the Red 1-8-1 for the season and 0-2 in Ivy League play, while it advances Penn’s record to 5-2-2 overall and 1-1 in Ivy League standings.

“We definitely played really well and came out better than last week. We fixed a lot of the things we needed to do better,” said junior forward Lena Russomagno. “I know we are disappointed with the result and need to start getting wins but if we keep playing how we are and scoring goals then the wins will come.”

Remembering last year’s crushing loss against Penn, Cornell wanted to begin the night off right. The Red started the match off competitively, when junior forward Lena Russomagno took a penalty kick, nine minutes into the game, and scored her first goal of the season. This goal marked Cornell’s first goal against Penn since 2003. One too few: Junior midfielder Lena Russomagno (16) scored the team’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Penn on Friday.

“It felt good. As a forward, its been hard not scoring so far, so it felt good to get that done. A lot of responsibility for the forwards is to get goals so it’s a pretty good start,” Russomagno said.

Unfortunately, the Quakers wasted little time in retaliating. With a little under 35 minutes, Cornell was called for a handball in its own box. Penn was able to add a tally to the scoreboard, making the score 1-1, after receiving its own penalty kick.

“It was a definitely an even battle for the entire 90 minutes with a lot of foul calls,” said sophomore defender Sidra Bonner.

The Red entered the break knowing that the game was still in close contention and attempted to prepare strategies on the best formations to utilize. Yet, on the other side of the field, the Quakers were planning their next sets of attacks to launch at the Red to thrust them to a victorious lead.

The game remained pretty even until just over 60 minutes into the game, when the Quakers played a long cross to the left side that went past a Red defender and goalie before it was headed into the net, putting the Red up, 2-1.

“We had a lot of opportunities and we needed to take advantage of their defense and goalie. We could have played towards their weaknesses and gotten the result that way,” Russomagno said.

The Red continued its offensive push but each time was stopped by Penn’s defensive line. Cornell outshot Penn, 12-10, for the night with the Quakers being pretty lucky that the Red couldn’t capitalize on additional opportunities. Penn’s goaltender Caroline Williams ended the night with four saves, while Cornell sophomore goalie Kelly Murphy posted three stops.

“I think it comes down to finishing opportunities on goal. This has been consistently through every game,” said Bonner. “We just have to finish with an attacking force. We shut down a lot of their key players but we couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.”

Not dwelling on its recent loss, the Red is looking to learn from its mistakes and improve its strategy for the remainder of the season.