Media Credit: Wil Van Eaton Corey Winkoff managed to notch a goal and an assist - no easy feat considering his team's performance. The Quakers were held scoreless for the first 40 minutes. [Click to enlarge]

Cornell midfielder John Glynn won the opening faceoff, weaved through the Penn defense and found teammate Ryan Hurley wide open in front of the net. Hurley shot and scored.

The game may as well have been over.

Cornell hung eight consecutive goals on the Quakers, holding them scoreless for the first 40 minutes of the game en route to a 13-5 victory.

"We just came out flat, we played like garbage for 60 minutes, and that's what's going to happen," senior captain Max Mauro said. "Regardless of the team you play, you're going to get your butts whupped."

Although Penn (4-3, 2-1 Ivy) only trailed slightly in most statistical categories - other than goals - the team was outplayed in nearly every facet of the game, from shots to ground balls to saves.

The Big Red (7-1, 2-0) outshot the Quakers by three but were significantly more efficient. They converted on over a third of their shots - twice as high as Penn.

Many Penn shots were acrobatic attempts that missed the goal completely or were swallowed up by goalkeeper Jake Myers' stick, including a leaping one-timer attempt by junior Craig Andrzejewski. Coach Brian Voelker was disappointed in his team's shot selection on offense.

"I thought we made poor decisions, we took some shots that we probably shouldn't have taken," he said.

Myers made all 12 of Cornell's saves, allowing only two goals before he was relieved to a standing ovation from his team's fans with six minutes remaining.

Penn's Chris Casey, however, saved only six of the Big Red's 17 shots on goal before he was pulled after the third quarter.

Voelker pointed out that Casey's play was not the primary reason for the substitution because the team defense "didn't really give him the opportunity to look good."

Hurley's five goals led the Big Red attack, usually after teammates found him wide open in front of the goal. For his fourth tally, he dragged two defenders, one of whom was illegally holding him, and threw the ball past Casey. Hurley also had two assists, while junior Chris Finn added a pair of each.

The Penn fans, who were nearly outnumbered by the opposition, had little reason to smile for the whole 60 minutes. The lone bright spot came when Penn finally got on board when junior Alex Weber spun around and fired a shot past Myers. Weber ended up with two goals in the second half after his attempt at a pride-saving goal in the closing seconds of the first half clanged off the post.

Adding injury to insult for the Red and Blue, sophomore Ryan Bailey, a starting midfielder, collapsed midway through the first quarter with a knee injury. He is scheduled for X-rays today, but it is believed to be an ACL tear, which would sideline him for the season.

With or without Bailey, the Quakers have a tough road ahead of them after being humiliated by the conference front-runners. They likely cannot lose another game if they want to keep alive their outside shot at an NCAA Tournament berth.

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