W. Lax dominated by No. 9 Big Green

The Penn women's lacrosse team fell below .500 in the Ivy League for the third time this season after a 17-7 loss at No. 9 Dartmouth Saturday afternoon. The Quakers (4-7, 2-3 Ivy League), who are losers of their last three, fell to the Big Green by 10 goals for the second straight year. Despite scoring efforts from five players -- including three from senior co-captain Darah Ross -- the Quakers once again could not recover from a large early deficit. Dartmouth (8-1, 4-0) came out playing like the defending Ivy co-champions they are. The first of four goals tallied by Big Green sophomore Jacque Weitzel came just one minute into the contest. Similar to their 13-7 loss at Rutgers Thursday, before the Quakers could respond they were down 5-0. "It's difficult when we get down early, and especially difficult with a team that was that strong," freshman attacker Annie Henderson said. Goals from Henderson and Ross cut the Big Green lead to 5-2 before the experience and efficiency of Dartmouth's scoring machine took over. "Right after we made it 5-2, we had a shot go right off the post," Ross said. "It was almost 5-3, and that was a wake-up call for [Dartmouth]. After that, they really turned it around." Although nine Dartmouth players scored on the day, one player helped break the game open. Freshman Liz Merritt scored three goals during a run which saw the Big Green tally four goals within a 95-second period in the middle of the first half. This scoring binge was the beginning of a six-goal Dartmouth run that closed out the first half. This run -- during which the Quakers were held scoreless for nearly 20 minutes -- gave the Big Green a nine-goal advantage at the break. "Once they started scoring, they got the momentum going their way," Penn freshman attacker Amy Weinstein said. "At times we didn't know how to pick up the pace [of our game]." The Quakers never got closer than eight in the final 30 minutes even after the Big Green replaced second-team All-Ivy junior netminder Sarah Carlson at the half. "They played a lot tighter defense that other teams that we had seen," Weinstein said. "One of our strengths is making that connecting pass on transition, but they were marking us tight and not allowing us to do that. People were running up the field and not having anyone to pass to." Most of Penn's inability to close the lead lay not on the Quakers' attack but on this stifling Dartmouth defense in the midfield. The Quakers frequently could not get the ball near the Dartmouth net and got off only 18 shots compared to 36 by the home team. "We knew going in that they were going to be very fast, and they were," Henderson said. "[But then] we kept losing the ball in the midfield -- they were doubling and trapping the ball, and stopped out mid-field transition." The Quakers' offense did pick up in the second half, though, as both Henderson and sophomore Amy Padula ended the day with a goal and an assist apiece for the Quakers. In net, Penn freshman Christian Stover was replaced early in the second half by sophomore Melissa Rantz, as the Quakers hoped a different look on defense might slow the Big Green down. It did help, to some extent, as the Quakers were only outscored 6-5 by the Ivy League's highest scoring offense in the second half. Rantz -- who faced Dartmouth in part of last year's match -- made four saves to go against four goals during her time in net.

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