W. Lax loses to Temple

The Penn women's lacrosse team lost at No. 7-ranked Temple yesterday afternoon, 13-5. To the players, however, it was not the points that were missing, but senior tri-captain Curran Kelly. Kelly, who became ill last weekend before the Cornell game and remains under observation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she is suffering from an unknown virus. "We did well considering that we didn't have a veteran senior," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "Curran is the mother of the group. She's the glue and the leader on the field." Sage sees each player as having certain characteristics which contribute to the strength of the team as a whole. It is the "blend of personalities" and "fun that they have together" that makes them so strong on the field. They depend on one another, both on and off the field, and when someone is missing the whole team is hurt. The team did not have its heart in the Temple game. Kelly's indefinite absence is weighing heavily on their shoulders. The Quakers went through the motions of the game, but the energy just wasn't there. Ultimately, the players performed as expected, but they were two steps behind. "Mighty and fierce" Sue Pierce was aggressive in the fan and scored Penn's first goal. Following Pierce's lead, Emmy "Forrest" Hansel used her speed against the Owls and took the ball all the way to goal. Junior Darah Ross followed her "nose for goal" and scored a third for the Quakers. Sophomore Jen Leisman and freshman Brooke Jenkins scored the remaining two goals. Ultimately, though, Penn looked sloppy, showing poor fundamentals. The matchup with Temple proved similar to last week's match with Loyola. The two teams played an even first half, but Penn's turnovers increased in the second half. The Red and Blue kept throwing the ball away and the Owls jumped on their mistakes. As the Quakers' errors increased, the Owls turned it up a notch. "We have to recognize that when we play a ranked team we can't throw the ball away, miss catches or miss groundballs," Sage said. Penn goalie Sue Back was tough in the net. The more mistakes the Quakers made, the more action there was for Back. With Temple on offense for the majority of the second half, Back saw a lot of action and made numerous saves as shots were fired at her. The loss seemed unimportant to the Quakers whose mentality for last night's game was a game is a game, win or lose. Penn has been working hard and has already seen improvements. What's more, the game itself, when compared to other team issues, seemed insignificant. "If you play against the best, then you learn all of your mistakes," Sage said. "We've learned so much from playing against Temple and Loyola who are both ranked. We aren't disappointed because when we go against a team not in the top 10, that's where we can show our stuff."