PENN WITHSTANDS
LOSS OF TURNER TO REACH FINALS
Feb 23nd , Princeton
NJ -
Howe Cup weekend has been a five star affair
this year, meaning five teams have been stars. Harvard, Trinity,
Yale, Princeton and Penn. Five teams started this weekend
with a legitimate shot at winning everything. Penn and Princeton,
the two most touted teams this season are the only ones who
still have that chance.
In the early afternoon, Penn
and Trinity met in a match that would be worthy of any final.
The 5-4 outcome is a testament to both teams' skill and determination.
Penn's squad played up a spot, as No. 2 Alisha Turner suffered
a knee injury on Friday in her match against Stanford's Katy
Brewster.
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Sidney
Scott defeats Ashley Clackson. (photo:©2008
Debra Tessier) |
Sydney Scott played No. 2 for the Quakers.
After a shaky start and a first game loss, the sophomore
prevailed against Trinity's Ashley Clackson in four.
"I got to the mind frame of 'I'm going to stay out here
forever,'" Scott said of her mentality after dropping the
first. "That mind frame helped me make fewer errors."
It was Penn's No. 1, Kristen Lange, who
clinched the match for the team when she defeated Lauren
Polonich in three. Simply put, Lange was on today. A handful of her shots
dropped straight down-no matter where she hit them from-and
died before Polonich had a chance at them.
"I feel like I was only going for shots where I had forced
loose balls," Lange said. "I set myself up for shots I had
worked on a lot in practice."
 |
Jackie
Moss wins in the clutch .
(photo:©2008
Debra Tessier) |
Trinity has already improved
on their fifth place finish from last year. The Bantams will
play for third place tomorrow against Yale. Clackson has
been fighting the flu all week, and Coach Wendy Bartlett
expects her to be 100 percent on Sunday.
"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow," Bantams coach
Wendy Bartlett said. "One of our goals this year was to finish
in the top three. We are ready to take on Yale."
Yale went
faced defending champs Princeton in the other semifinal.
Strong performances by their No. 1 and No. 2 players, Miranda
Ranieri and Logan Greer, respectively, were the highlights
for Yale, as well as a five game match between No. 3 Sarah
Toomey and Princeton's Jackie Moss. Moss won that match in
five, and set the tone for her fellow Tigers to reserve their
place in the championship.
CASEY'S MOMENT
One of Princeton's best performances
came from No. 6 Casey Riley.
"Casey was just awesome," Princeton head coach Gail Ramsay
said. "Her racquet accuracy is do quick. The best thing is
Casey can shoot from anywhere. She was hitting an amazing
array of shots, triple boasts, cross court boasts. She really
kept Caroline (Regolith) under a tremendous amount of pressure.
Caroline is strong and hits the ball hard. If you let her
get in front, it's hard to see what she is doing. Casey did
a good job on that."
Finishing out the A Division were matches
between Harvard and Stanford, and Dartmouth and Brown. Harvard
took their match against the Cardinal 9-0.
"They played well. We had chances at one and two, but I
really feel like both Lily (Lorentzen) and Katy (Brewster)
got a little tired, and that was the difference in the matches," Stanford
head coach Mark Talbott said. The skill level was the same.
In the third and fourth games they made some mental and physical
mistakes, and that was the difference. June (Tiong) and Alisha
(Turner) were too good to give them the freebies."
 |
Jackie
Moss wins in the clutch .
(photo:©2008 Debra Tessier) |
A RED LETTER DAY FOR DARTMOUTH
Brown and
Dartmouth started the day with a 9:30 match, and Dartmouth
quickly locked the win. They got wins right away at nine,
six and three. Four wins later and they had improved on their
close 5-4 dual season victory.
"They played fantastic," said Dartmouth head coach John
Power of his team. "It was probably as well as they've played
overall as a team."
Dartmouth Christie Alexander and Rebecca
Loucks won today, when in the regular season they both lost.
"We had a change in the order at two and three," Power explained. "Christie
had not been as healthy last time. Rebecca at three couldn't
quite handle the always strong Charlotte Steel. Christie
had the match of her season today."
Dartmouth faces Harvard
on Sunday, a match they lost 6-3 in the dual season.
So with
strong performances from all teams in the top eight, particularly
the top five, Penn and Princeton prepare for battle again.
Both teams lived up to the hype and have landed themselves
where most expected them to be. The difference this year
is that Penn enters the match the Dual Match champs. The
difference from the dual season match, is they play at Princeton
this time, and possibly without their No. 2 player. That
match was 5-4, with Penn winning the last five. The outcome
of Sunday is unpredictable. Whoever wins does so by defeating
the deepest pool in recent Howe Cup history. Check back for
a full report tomorrow
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