W. Lax hires new assistant

Sarah Miller will officially become an assistant Penn women's lacrosse coach tomorrow. The Penn women's lacrosse team's coaching situation has been up in the air all season. Before the season started, the team petitioned the Athletic Department for head coach Anne Sage's removal. Sage has not been with the team for 25 days, while assistant coach Alanna Wren has unofficially led the Quakers with the help of field hockey assistant coach Donna Mulhern. Mulhern, however, has had to take care of work with the field hockey team recently, so Wren has been leading the Quakers (0-4, 0-2 Ivy League) alone. That has now changed, as Sarah Miller, a former member of the United States developmental team, has agreed to assist Wren for the rest of the season. The move will become official tomorrow, although there will still be no official statement on Sage's status. "I'm happy to be here," said Miller, who played college lacrosse at West Chester. "With one coach, it's tough for Alanna to see all the players all the time, and I'm really going to be especially helping on the attack." The Quakers certainly need help on there, having been outshot in all but their last game, a 14-11 loss to Boston College. The shot selection in that game, however, did not satisfy Wren or the players. "We're not playing smart," said Annie Henderson, whose six assists lead the team and match her total from last season. "Things haven't been clicking for us on the attack, and with Sarah being an attack specialist, I look forward to anything she has to say." · To put their first 'W' of 1999 on the board, the Quakers will need more than just for their offense to click. They will need to stop a speedy Lafayette (2-3) team on defense and then get the ball through the midfield to the attackers. "We need to dictate the flow of play better," junior Joanna Lopinto said. "We're concentrating on being aggressive but most specifically getting the ball. If you're aggressive and don't get the ball, then it's kind of worthless." Once the Quakers get the ball, it will be important for them to break out of midfield traps successfully -- an aspect of the game which has given them problems this season. Penn spent a good deal of time on this in yesterday's practice. "It's basically putting two defenders on someone, giving her the ball, and saying, 'Find the open girl,'" Wren said. "We have to hopefully put together an effort that's aggressive and smart at the same time." So far this season, Penn has generally done one or the other but rarely both. If the two traits can come together, the Quakers could pull out a win tonight. · Today's game against the Leopards will be the first career road game for the team's largely freshman corps. The Quakers, however, do not foresee any problem with travelling. "I don't think it'll affect us that much," said freshman midfielder and Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Emily Foote, who scored her first career goal on Sunday. "For a home game you do have a whole day to get ready but this won't be much different from high school -- getting on a bus and going somewhere." While the ride to Easton won't be a huge factor, the natural grass at Lafayette's Metzgar Field could make a difference. The Quakers are used to Franklin Field's Astroturf but they did practice yesterday on the grass at Rhodes Field in preparation for their game with the Leopards. "It makes your legs feel a little more sluggish," Wren said. "But hopefully today got us a little more in tune [with playing on grass] and a long pregame warmup tomorrow will help us to get acclimated to [Lafayette's specific] conditions." · Goalkeeping will be important for both teams this afternoon. Penn's Christian Stover -- used to the true hops from bounce shots on turf -- will have to adjust to bounce shots off the grass, while the Quakers will try to make every save difficult for the Leopards' netminders. "The bounce shots will be different on grass," Stover said. "But I have to try to keep my head up and stay with it." Stover has been called upon to keep the Quakers competitive in many games this season, as Penn has struggled to get out of a defensive mode. The sophomore does not feel this puts pressure on her, though. "[The ball] has been in our end more than usual this season," she said. "I try to view the defensive unit as a whole, and that I'm part of that unit, instead of thinking that I'm out there by myself." Penn hopes to reverse that trend against Lafayette, whose goalkeeping has been troublesome this season. "The key to this game is going to be our shooting," Wren said. "Apparently, Lafayette has some of the same problems in goal as Boston College, where the goalkeepers are not their strengths. Hopefully this time when I say to shoot low, they'll shoot low." That would also certainly make Sarah Miller's first days on the job much easier.

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