No. 3 Princeton beats W. Lax

After last year's stunning 7-6 upset of Princeton, the Penn women's lacrosse team had high hopes before this year's showdown. But the third-ranked Tigers were unstoppable yesterday at Poe Field. Princeton remained undefeated with a 16-4 thrashing of the 14th-ranked Quakers. Time of possession and shots on goal tell the story in this game. The quicker and stronger Tiger offense wore down Penn's defense by controlling the ball for the majority of the game and attempting a remarkable 43 shots on goal. The Quaker offense was only able to muster 14 shot attempts. The Princeton attack was fueled by Amory Rowe, who had four goals, and was one of nine Tigers to score. Penn (6-5, 2-3 Ivy League) looked good early. After trailing 1-0, Lori Frutkin scored her first of two goals to tie the score at 1 after eight minutes of play. Princeton (8-0, 4-0) then kicked the offense into high gear by scoring seven straight goals. The Tigers led 8-2 at halftime and continued to dominate throughout the second stanza. "It was frustrating," sophomore defender Kelly McCollian said. "Our defense got tired, because whenever we cleared the ball they double and triple teamed us at midfield. We kept turning the ball over and then had to run back on defense again. When we were able to set up our offense, we got some good shots on goal, but that just wasn't that often. They're the No. 3 team in the country and they played like it." Sophomore attacker Alanna Wren agreed it was a frustrating day for the Quakers. Each attempt by Penn to get something going on offense was thwarted by the swarming Tiger defense. "They just executed and we didn't," Wren said. "They were all tall, athletic and quick. Offensively we never had the ball. They kept double teaming us, and we kept turning the ball over. When the opposition has the ball three-fourths of the time, our defense is going to get worn down.?We went out there and tried our best, but we got beat by a better team." The Quakers will try to redeem themselves tomorrow afternoon at 3 when they host Brown. Penn feels confident it can defeat the Bears (3-5, 1-2), who are coming off an 8-7 loss to Yale. The return to Franklin Field is a welcome change for the Quakers, who are coming off of a six-game road trip. Penn is excited for its final Ivy contest of the year which will be played as a doubleheader with the men's lacrosse team. Last year at Brown, the Bears defeated the Quakers 5-4. "Everyone is totally fired up for Brown," Wren said. "Last year it hurt when we had to travel to Brown and miss Fling and then lose by one goal." "We will beat Brown on Saturday for a win in our final Ivy game," she said.