Marissa Balleza scored her fifth goal of the year Saturday (Gil Talbot).

PHILADELPHIA – The Harvard field hockey team (5-2, 1-1) travelled to Philadelphia Saturday afternoon to take on the Penn Quakers (4-3, 1-1) in its first road Ivy League contest. The squads were tied 1-1 late in the first half, but Penn was able to pull away for the 4-1 victory.

Harvard outshot the Quakers in the first 35 minutes, 7-6, but it would be Penn that would take a 2-1 lead into the halftime intermission. Alex Iqbal scored the first goal of the game, converting on a penalty corner to give Penn a 1-0 lead 11 minutes in.

The Crimson fired back with a familiar goal-scorer finding the back of the cage in the 27th minute. Marissa Balleza scored her team-high fifth goal of the year, beating both the Quaker defense and goalkeeper, with a great showing of ball control to create a wide open net.

Penn was able to shift the momentum back in its favor though before the half. Emily Corcoran potted a rebound to give the Quakers a 2-1 lead after the initial 35 minutes.

The first 25 minutes of the second half went by scoreless, with Caitlin Rea and Balleza each rifling shots on goal, but Alison Weisenfels made both stops for Penn. Iqbal would put the game away for the Quakers with two more tallies in the final 10 minutes, giving her a hat trick, and bringing the final score to 4-1.

Harvard returns home on Tuesday, Sept. 30 to host UMass-Lowell before setting off on a four-game road trip to begin October.