Quakers hold on for win over Big Red

After taking a five-goal lead by the middle of the second half, the Penn women's lacrosse team held on for a 10-9 victory over Cornell Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field. With the victory, the Quakers (1-2, 1-0 Ivy League) matched last season's Ivy League victory total and confirmed coach Anne Sage's belief that, despite the loss of six of last year's starters to graduation, the team has improved. "It's always big for us when we beat an Ivy League team," Sage said. "We played 15 minutes of excellent lacrosse at the beginning of the second half." The teams were tied at four at halftime, but Penn went on a 6-1 run at the start of the second half to build a seemingly insurmountable lead. Cornell (1-1, 0-1), however, rallied for four consecutive goals, allowing the Quakers to narrowly escape with their first victory of the season. "It shouldn't have gotten as close as it did," senior attacker Alanna Wren said. "We should have won this game by three or four goals. We lost our composure a little in the second half and made a lot of mistakes that could have hurt us. "We're a better team than Cornell, but we didn't really show it for most of the game." Junior attacker Amy Tarr led a balanced Penn attack with three goals, followed by Wren with two. Senior attacker Amy Shapiro led the Quakers with four assists. Penn had no problem breaking down the much-heralded Cornell zone defense. "Once they figured the zone out, it was wasn't an issue anymore," Sage said. "From that point, it was just a matter of putting the ball in the cage." Penn's transition offense was strong throughout the match. This is particularly comforting since the team's ability to score on the fastbreak had been an area of concern coming into the match. "We got some good feeds, which shows that the team was working together," Sage said. The solid defense that Penn played against Cornell also suggests that the Quakers are playing as more of a cohesive unit than they previously had been. In addition to using the trap to eliminate the effectiveness of Cornell's zone, Penn forced several turnovers which helped swing the momentum of the game. Senior goalie Alexis Seth also helped out with a solid game. "Alexis came up with some big saves and [junior defender] Jill Brown and [senior midfielder] Alex Brill-Edwards had some key interceptions," Sage said. "This year's team is better than last year's because everyone's going at it in games and in practice," Gilhorn said. "We don't rely on individual performances as much, and there isn't the feeling that if one person doesn't do well, we can't win."