No. 4 Tigers overwhelm W. Lax

The Penn women's lacrosse team entered Franklin Field last night trying to end some ugly trends against Princeton. Against such a powerful foe, they didn't even come close, losing 12-5.

The No. 4 Tiger's dominating press smothered the No. 16 Quakers in the first half, and Princeton held on for their 12th win in a row against Penn. It was the Tigers' 15th straight victory in Ivy League play.

After scoring first, the Quakers (6-5, 3-2 Ivy) gave up nine straight goals -- six in the first half -- digging themselves a hole too big to climb out of.

A halftime change in the cage by both teams and a late scoring flurry pulled Penn to within four, 9-5, on the strength of two goals by senior Katie Spofford.

That was as close as Penn would come, though, as the Tigers (9-2, 4-0) clamped down on defense, and finished with the final three goals of the game.

Following their opening goal, the Quakers had a horrendous first half, getting off only three shots, compared to 11 for Princeton.

"I think our attack was a little stiff," coach Karin Brower said. "I don't think we were moving hard and we weren't creating opportunities. You can't shoot three times and expect to score. You need to have a lot of shots in order to put the ball in the net."

While the Quakers were unable to get their offense going, the Tigers repeatedly capitalized on Penn's mistakes. Their defensive pressure made it difficult for the Quakers to move the ball out of their own end of the field and created numerous turnovers.

"Mentally it's frustrating when you get a couple good defensive stops and then you can't get the ball out," Brower said. "You can't give Princeton those second chances."

In the second half, Penn played the Tigers much more evenly, and actually outshot them, 13-12. Spofford scored twice as the Red and Blue went on a 4-0 run in the middle of the second half.

"Katie Spofford got angry, took it to the net a couple times, and we needed more of that," Brower said. "We needed that anger and that hunger throughout the whole game."

At halftime, Liz Lorelli came out of the cage after giving up six goals in the first half. Freshman Sarah Waxman replaced the senior.

Waxman gave up six goals as well, but four of the six came on free position shots.

Despite the change in goalkeepers in the second half, the Quakers were unable to keep up with Princeton's top players.

Tigers forward Lindsey Biles scored five times in the game, bringing her season goal total to 34, twice that of Penn's highest scoring player.

"Their best attackers, Lindsey Biles and Elizabeth Pillion, those two, they've been All-Americans and All-Ivy players," Brower said. "Those are kids that have won the national championship. They're fantastic players."

Freshman Katie Lewis-Lamonica "is a very good challenger," Brower added. "Those three attackers are their go-to kids, and they are three of the top attackers in the country. We don't have that."

Penn seemed to be overmatched, perhaps both physically and mentally. The Princeton squad clearly had more top-flight talent, as is expected from a team ranked fourth in the nation.

Mentally, however, the Quakers seemed nervous, especially early on in the game. Their offense was very tentative, as shown by their lack of shots early on. The team did not take many of the risks necessary to score goals, and it cost them.

"First half especially is when you're supposed to take risks, and we were playing a little hesitant," Brower said. "Our attack wasn't moving well. They were stopping our one-on-one challenges and they were doubling early and we weren't handling that pressure well."

The pressure seemed to fluster the Quakers, leading to 10 first half turnovers.

"I think they knew some of our plays coming into the first half," senior midfielder Emily Cochran said. "In the second half we just freelanced, and we were able to create a lot more opportunities."

In the second half, it was perhaps not a lack of scoring opportunities that prevented the Quakers from coming back, but the amount of scoring opportunities they gave the Tigers.

Princeton had four free position shots in the second half, and scored on all four of them. On a night when the defense seemed like the strongest part of the Quakers' game, that certainly did not help.

"The team defense did a nice job," Brower said. "I think it was more of keeping that confidence and bringing the ball up the field that the issue was."

The Quakers have dropped four of their last six games, and must look to regain the confidence they displayed during their fast start to the season. Their next chance comes at home this Saturday against an undefeated No. 7 Dartmouth squad.

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