The No. 17 Harvard women's soccer team began its defense of last season's Ivy League title on Saturday by dismissing the one team that nearly overtook the Crimson in last year's league race.

Down 1-0 late in the second half, Harvard rallied for two goals in the span of less than a minute to beat Penn, 2-1, at Rhodes Field in Philadelphia.

The Quakers (2-2, 0-1 Ivy) finished second to the Crimson (2-1, 1-0) in the Ivy League standings in 1999, their only defeat coming in a 2-1 overtime loss to Harvard.

"This was an extremely important win for us," sophomore forward Joey Yenne said. "This was our first real test in Ivy play, and Penn is one of the toughest teams we have to face to defend our league title."

The contest was marked by the return of Harvard goalkeeper Cheryl Gunther, the 1999 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, who missed the team's first two games with a knee injury.

After being cleared to play last Tuesday, Gunther received the starting nod from Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton on Saturday and made two stops to extend her regular-season unbeaten streak to 14 games.

"I knew Cheryl wasn't 100 percent, but she still played an unbelievable game," co-captain Lauren Corkery said. "She stopped a couple hard balls, and she is only going to improve as her knee gets better. I fell totally confident with her in net."

Gunther was helped significantly by the Crimson defense, which held Penn to ten shots. The Quakers did not earn so much as a single corner kick in the game.