W. Lax doubled up, 10-5

After consecutive home victories raised its record over .500 to 3-2, the Penn women's lacrosse team traveled to Rutgers yesterday to play the first of six straight road games. Two straight wins over Cornell and Temple had the team optimistic heading into the road stretch, with an important game against Yale looming tomorrow. But yesterday, the Quakers may have been caught looking forward to the trip to New Haven instead of focusing on Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights doubled up Penn, 10-5, leaving Quaker coach Anne Sage disappointed. "It was a big loss," Sage said. "We just didn't come ready to play." Things started out badly for Penn, setting a tone for the rest of the game. Rutgers scored quickly on its first possession to take the lead, and the Quakers were never able to get back into the game. "We were in it as far as the score being close, but our heads weren't in it," sophomore attacker Alanna Wren said. "We played poorly," Sage said. "We got behind, we did not pass and catch, and we broke down fundamentally." Penn broke down in many ways. A lack of hustle hurt the team, along with the failure to work as a cohesive unit. "We were slow from the beginning," Wren said. "We weren't hustling to ground balls. We never got into an offensive groove, and they scored really quickly in the game. Our defense wasn't talking, and the attack wasn't working together." Wren suggested one possible reason for the Quakers' poor performance -- the team was not focused on the task at hand. "We weren't focused at practice, which was not a good sign," she said. "We were just overlooking Rutgers. We were looking forward to the Ivy weekend and Yale." Penn will now get its chance at the Elis tomorrow, but the Quakers probably wish they had another shot at Rutgers.