Big Red stops W. Lax from third straight 'w'

Cornell's women's lacrosse team scored the first nine goals. The outcome of the first Ivy League game usually tells a lot about what the season holds. Saturday's 15-9 loss at Cornell sends a message to the Penn women's lacrosse team that it definitely has room for improvement in the Ivies this season. Penn (2-1, 0-1 Ivy League) did not get off to nearly the start they desired. Cornell scored first. And second. And third. It was that kind of day. "We didn't come ready to play," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "We dug ourselves in a hole. By the time we started to really play we were down by six or seven goals." It wasn't until there were only 90 seconds left in the first half that freshman defender Amy Goh put the Quakers on the board with her first of the two goals on the day. By this point, however, it was already 9-0, Big Red. Cornell (3-1, 1-0) was led in its offensive outburst with four goals each by sophomore Kathy Knapp and freshman Lauren Ogorek. Knapp scored all of her goals in the Big Red's big first half -- including three in a four-minute span. "We started out slow, and in the first half we let Cornell take control. We weren't as aggressive as Cornell and didn't go after the ball," junior attacker Katy Miller said. "In the second half we were more evenly matched, though." To the Quakers' credit, they did manage to net three quick goals in the waning minutes of the first half. Combined with two goals from senior co-captain Emmy Hansel in the first five minutes of the second half, Penn found themselves down only 10-5 with 25 minutes to play -- by no means an insurmountable deficit. The Big Red, however, matched the Quakers goal-for-goal the rest of the way, never letting Penn cut the lead to less than five. In many ways, this was not one game, but two. The Big Red clearly dominated the first half, building a 9-3 lead. Penn, though, came back and played almost as well as the home team for the last 30 minutes, equalling the Big Red's second-half scoring output with six. "Our whole warm-up was very flat. No one seemed to be able to get it going," Penn senior co-captain Emmy Hansel said. "[But] we actually outplayed Cornell in the second half once we were energized." Senior co-captain Darah Ross continued with her scoring binge, adding two goals to her previous total of 12. Hansel was the Quakers' leading scorer with two goals and an assist. Freshman attacker Annie Henderson scored her sixth goal of the year, while Miller and freshman defenseman Sarah Evans each netted their first collegiate goals. This newfound diversity on offense, however, was dampered by the end result of the game. "I think if we had started out and played stronger from the beginning of the game, the score would've been very different," Evans said. "Cornell had a much more structured offense [than Stanford and Ohio State]. They did a good job of making us look back and forth -- both behind the crease and upfield." In contrast to the Quakers' first two games this season, they were outshot 30-20 by the opposition. Cornell's shot-advantage proved to be a strain on the Penn goalies, who could combine for only five saves. In addition, Cornell won more draws (11-5), picked up more ground balls (10-7), had more interceptions (3-0) and scored more goals from the free position (9-3). "We were outhustled," Sage said. "The game was two very different halves, but we had to play the whole game." This win was Cornell's first against an Ivy League team since April 1995 -- snapping a string of 16 consecutive league losses.

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