W. Lax hopes to play spoiler

The role of spoiler is a difficult one to define, yet it clearly describes the aspirations of the Penn women's lacrosse team in tomorrow's 11 a.m. game against Dartmouth at Franklin Field. No. 2 Dartmouth (4-0, 1-0 Ivy League) comes to Philadelphia tomorrow to face a struggling Quakers squad looking to surprise its Ivy rivals. Although they are coming off an 18-11 win over West Chester, the Quakers have lost five of their last six games and are winless in the Ivy League. "It's tough when you're losing, but I am anxious for us to step up and accept the challenge," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "We need to play smart, play competitively and play together as a team." The Quakers (2-5, 0-3) face a Big Green team that dealt defending NCAA champion Princeton its only loss of the season, 10-9. Dartmouth is currently No. 2 in the country . "They are stiff competition," defender Jill Brown said. "We need to take advantage of our underdog status and give a good showing." The Red and Blue defense must figure out a way to stop Dartmouth's superstar attacker Lauren Holleran. "She's awesome," Sage said. "She plays on the U.S. team and is a great attacker." Holleran, the younger sister of Penn squash coach Demer Holleran, scored three goals in the win over Princeton on the way to her second consecutive Ivy League Player of the Week award. "We need to push ourselves harder," midfielder Curran Kelly said. "We need to step it up a level to compete, and we need to play our game, and not be forced into playing theirs." The Quakers are still looking for that first elusive Ivy win, and with nationally ranked powers such as Dartmouth and the No. 3 Tigers ahead this week, the win will not be an easy task. "This could be a pivotal game," defender Lauren Mitchell said. "I believe in the team and feel that if we come out strong like we did against Loyola earlier in the season, we can show Dartmouth what Penn's really about." The Quakers' transition game is vital to the team's success. Moving the ball swiftly down the field and avoiding turnovers are focal points as Penn tries to hang tough with one of the powerhouses of women's lacrosse. "Our offense and defense need to work on their transformation," Kelly said. "To be able to compete with them we need to minimize our mistakes, force them to make mistakes and then capitalize." Looking towards what seems to be a rough week ahead, several players are cautiously optimistic about playing spoiler to undefeated Dartmouth. "We have the team to pull off a win as long as we remain focused," defender Ayana Green said. "The big games coming up will be a test to show how strong we are mentally as well as physically." Sage summarized the Quakers perspective: "We need to accept the challenge of playing the best teams by digging deeper for the motivation and desire to win."