Second half blow-out helpsRutgers down W. Lax

After a bod loss to Rutgers, the Penn women's lacrosse team returns to Ivy action Saturday. Tonight, in its last non-league match of the season, the Penn women's lacrosse team was dropped 13-7 by Rutgers at the Scarlet Knights' Yurcak Field. Going into the Rutgers match, the Quakers (4-6, 2-2 Ivy League) knew they would be in for a good game. The Scarlet Knights (9-3) pulled off a surprising upset of No. 5 Temple earlier this week, but the Quakers were hoping to catch Rutgers overconfident and too relaxed. Despite the Quakers being tied up 3-3 with the Scarlet Knights halfway through the first half, it was all down hill after that as Rutgers scored six of the next seven goals. Penn was led by freshman Annie Henderson, who notched two goals. The Scarlet Knights' Dina Cavallo netted four goals, including the hundredth of her career, on her home field. Following this loss, the Quakers now begin a tough season-ending three-game stretch with a road trip to No. 9 Dartmouth tomorrow at noon. "We're preparing right now for all four games," said Penn coach Anne Sage before yesterday's Rutgers game. "We can't sit back and hope things are going to happen.? I want to get to ground balls, concentrate and execute to make things happen." So far in '98, though, the Quakers have had an up-and-down season in the conference. Tough league losses at Cornell and Yale have been alternated with big wins over Columbia and Harvard. The Quakers, though, hope to forget last night's non-league game going into Dartmouth. "The outcome of the Rutgers game will effect our attitude going into Dartmouth, no matter what," Penn goalie Melissa Rantz said. "We're going to be pumped going into Dartmouth, because we want to win and because its an Ivy matchup. They can definitely be beaten." Dartmouth (7-1, 3-0) is one of the stronger Ivy teams, and is looking to remain undefeated at home. The Big Green -- who shared the Ivy League crown with Princeton a year ago -- defeated the Quakers at Franklin Field, 16-6, in the 1997 campaign. This season, Dartmouth has posted impressive wins over Yale (12-10), Brown (20-11) and Cornell (23-7) in league play. Wednesday, the Big Green defeated Vermont, 19-1, behind goals from 13 different players. "The number of goals isn't necessarily significant -- we just try to do what it takes to win," Dartmouth coach Amy Patton said. "Every game we're looking to go in and get the win. We just set up a game plan and try to follow though with it." The Big Green's huge offense is led by sophomores Emily Fenwick and Jacque Weitzel, who combined for 58 points last season. "They have a good attack, they're fast and they'll switch hands without hesitation and go in for the goal," Rantz -- who faced Dartmouth in net last season -- said. The Big Green's Weitzel, who scored six goals in the Cornell win, has been the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Week each of the last two weeks. "[Weitzel] is good -- we're going to have to shut her down," Sage said. "We just have to sort some things out and get on the same page. We have our work cut out for us, but we're ready to take them on." The Quakers counter the Big Green with an explosive offense of their own. Henderson and senior co-captains Darah Ross and Emmy Hanselcan each put up big numbers anytime. The trio have 14 multiple-goal games between them and have accounted for 58 of the 74 Quakers' scores up to the Rutgers game. "We definitely respect Penn," Patton said. "Every team in the Ivies, through and through, is good, but [Penn] is always up. And they have good speed in the midfield." In net, Dartmouth junior Sarah Carlson will look to shut down the Quakers. Carlson earned second-team All-Ivy honors in '97 after compiling an 8.36 goals against average. The Quakers will need to really push their attack on Carlson because they have been drastically outshot in recent matches. This includes a 32-15 shot deficit against Lafayette and a 40-23 disadvantage against Yale -- both losses. Nonetheless, the team is hoping to work off of its shutout of Lafayette over the last 30 minutes Monday. Quakers freshman goalie Christian Stover and freshmen defensemen Amy Goh and Sarah Evans will look to carry this smothering play into Dartmouth tomorrow. "If we play a hard defense, we have a good chance at being successful," Stover said. "But I hope the good defensive effort will carry over sooner rather than later."

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