W. Lax tries to remain undefeated

With two wins in two contests, an undefeated women's lacrosse heads north to tangle with Cornell. What a difference a year makes. Tomorrow, the Penn women's lacrosse team (2-0) goes into their Ivy opener at Cornell (2-1) undefeated, prepared and excited. Under probable warm and sunny skies on the grass of the Big Red's Berman Field, the Quakers will try to win their third straight. Last season, on this same weekend, the Quakers went into its Ivy opener at Cornell winless and tired. In a blinding snowstorm on the turf of the Big Red's Schoellkopf Field, the Quakers won an unbelievably close 15-14 match in sudden-death double overtime. "No words can describe the horror that we went through that day [last year]," sophomore goalie Melissa Rantz said. "We couldn't feel our fingers, they were clenched, frozen to the stick." The contrast between last year's game and tomorrow's is not lost on the team. "We felt like we were in Alaska. We could've built an igloo with the snow that was on the ground," sophomore midfielder Lee Ann Sechovicz said. "This year will be so much better. We're excited. It's good to go in with two wins. We're psyched up." With home wins of 19-8 over Stanford and 9-6 over Ohio State so far this season, the Quakers have proven that they are psyched up for their games and can come ready to play. "[The wins] are definitely a confidence builder," senior co-captain Emmy Hansel said. "Especially the first game when we scored so many goals -- that really helped our attack. And then yesterday, I think we had a really good defensive effort." The Quakers' leading scorer thus far this season -- co-captain Darah Ross -- netted five last season against the Big Red. With 12 goals in just two games so far in '98, it's clear the senior is capable of having another big effort. Although Ross has tallied 12 of the 28 Quaker goals over the two games, almost any Quaker is capable of putting it in the net. Seven Quakers have scored overall, including four with multiple tallies. On the other end of the field, goalie Sue Back has "played out of her mind" in the first two games. The junior has allowed only 14 goals, half the number scored by the Quaker offense. She, and the rest of the team's stellar defense, is looking to continue to play well against the Big Red. After the Stanford game, Penn coach Anne Sage said, "It's a great win, a stepping-stone which we have with regard to Cornell -- which is our first Ivy. I want to be 3-0 after Cornell going into Loyola." The Big Red (2-1) are led by attacker Cari Hills (11 goals, 2 assists). The senior -- who had three goals to go with four assists against the Quakers in '97 -- has been the Big Red's leading scorer the past three years. "Cornell plays a game similar to ours -- man-to-man through the midfield. They have more finesse than Ohio State," Penn assistant coach Alanna Wren said. "We're just working our game, we're not as concerned about them as with us." Senior tri-captain Meredith Scardino, who anchors the Cornell midfield, will lead the Big Red attempt to take the Quakers out of their game. Junior goalie Sonia Novik will try to contain the Quaker offense in her first year in net. "We really don't expect anything different from Cornell from any of the other teams, so we're just trying to master our attack," Hansel said. Tomorrow's game is being played on Cornell's grass field, instead of their turf playing surface, which may have an effect on the Quakers' use of speed in their offense. "You feel like you're a lot faster when you're playing on turf, so I think that it's always a little interesting when you go to grass," Ross said. The team practiced yesterday on the Quaker soccer field, though, in preparation for the game. "[The grass] will take a little bit of the speed aspect out of the game. It will change the goalie game a lot," Wren said. "We needed a day to get ready for it, but today should have done it." Since this is Cornell's first match on their home grass field -- they won at Virginia Tech and Lafayette and lost at Vanderbilt -- it probably will not be that big of an edge going the Big Red's way. No matter the weather, the field conditions or the opponent, though, the Quakers themselves are ready to go out and play. "I think they're excited. It's nice to go into Ivy League play 2-0. I think they're ready," Wren said.

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