W. Lax ends rocky season with a victory

Baltimore, Md. Ross opened the scoring one minute, 25 seconds into the contest, and the Quakers (4-7) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Lafayette got on board with 15:08 remaining in the period, but trailed 11-5 at the half. The Leopards cut the lead to 14-9 with 12:14 to play, but would get no closer. Ross scored all four of her goals in the first half. Ending with 17 points on the season, Ross always had her eye on goal. Penn goalie Sue Back made 12 saves. Back played all 60 minutes of almost every game, and could be counted on by her teammates to ward off the toughest opponents. "We played really well as a team in both the game against Yale and against Lafayette," Back said. "Our skills and enthusiasm were up. We wanted to have a strong finish to the season, and we accomplished that." This season has been a frustrating one for the Quakers who don't feel they were ever able to display the full extent of their ability. Penn lost its first game against its toughest opponent, No. 4 Loyola, but played an aggressive first half and proved to be stronger competition for the Greyhounds than expected. Penn's improvement was more evident in its second game against Cornell. Both teams were primed for the game -- the Big Red out for revenge and the Quakers looking for a repeat performance. Penn won by a goal, scored by middie Sue Pierce, in sudden-death overtime. Pierce led the team with 21 goals and 12 assists. The Red and Blue were, however, less concerned with their games than with the sudden sickness of tri-captain Curran Kelly. Kelly, who became ill just before the match in Ithaca, N.Y., suffered from an unknown virus and was unable to play for weeks. The Quakers entered the Temple game unfocused and concerned about their teammate. After their second loss, the Quakers decided that they would have to prove that they were a better team than they had recently demonstrated. They entered the Harvard game determined to win for Kelly and for themselves. Indeed, Penn left Harvard victorious for the first time in the program's history. Additionally, the win moved Penn into the NCAA rankings for the first time. After an easy win against West Chester, however, the Quakers fell to Dartmouth by 10 goals. A slow start caused two more Ivy losses against both Princeton and Brown. The Tigers double-teamed recent scoring threats Pierce and tri-captain Amy Tarr, forcing the Quakers to look for other options. Tarr is a solid player who is looked to for leadership. In the game against Brown, attacker Jamie Schemberg, finally demonstrated her shooting potential and scored three goals. Tied with Ross for scoring in the Ivy League, Schemberg scored a goal in almost every game. The Red and Blue followed these matches with a win against Columbia but were unable to continue a winning streak. Rutgers was a disappointing one-point loss in overtime, but freshman Brooke Jenkins had a particularly good game. Jenkins scored three goals and retrieved many groundballs. Jenkins, referred to as the team quarterback, has proven herself an invaluable player. Finally Penn suffered a two-point loss in its final Ivy match against Yale, despite aggressive play and two seven-point comebacks. Attacker Emmy Hansel scored two goals against the Elis and displayed her tell-tale speed. Throughout the season, the Quakers relied upon Hansel to retrieve the ball from their defensive end and take it all the way to goal. "We played really good games against tough competition. It's unfortunate that we didn't come up with more wins in the close games like Rutgers and Brown," Back said. "Our overall record could have appeared better -- it could have just as easily have been 7-4 as 4-7."

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