PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Yale women’s soccer team came within 21 seconds of posting perhaps its most impressive win of the season. Instead, it turned into a frustrating night for the Bulldogs, who were forced to settle for a 1-1 tie with Penn on a picture perfect evening at Rhodes Field.

The Quakers scored the tying goal with just 21 seconds left after they were awarded a questionable penalty kick. Kerry Scalora converted the kick, forcing overtime.

The penalty kick call came amidst a scramble in front of the Yale goal and left the Bulldogs’ bench perplexed.

“I feel like I should file a police report because we were robbed,” said Yale head coach Rudy Meredith. “I feel bad for our kids because they left it all on the field.”

Yale (7-5-1, 2-2-1 Ivy) outshot Penn 4-2 in the overtime periods but couldn’t get the game-winner.

The controversial call overshadowed what was a very solid performance from the Bulldogs.

“I’m really proud of our effort,” Meredith said. “It was one of our best games of the season.”

After a scoreless first half, Yale grabbed the lead at 75:36 when Paula Hagopian scored off a corner kick. Melissa Gavin sent the ball into the box, and after a couple of deflections, it came right to a wide-open Hagopian, who banged it in.

It was the first goal Penn had allowed in the entire month of October (a span of 697 minutes).

The Quakers (10-1-4, 3-1-1 Ivy) had the better of the play in the first half, finishing with a 9-4 edge in shots.

Yale goalkeeper Elise Wilcox made seven of her nine saves in the opening 45 minutes to keep Penn off the board.

“I thought we started getting more confident as the game went on,” Meredith said. “We did a good job of sticking with our game plan.”

The Bulldogs are back in action next Saturday at Columbia. The game was originally scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. but has been changed to a 1 p.m. start. 

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