W. Lax falls in defensive struggle

The Quakers shut out the visiting Leopards in the second half, but they could not overcome a six-goal deficit. Coming off of a big Ivy win over Harvard last Saturday, the Penn women's lacrosse team expected to continue its winning ways last night against Lafayette at Franklin Field. The Quakers (4-5) quickly returned to earth, though, as the three-time defending Patriot League champion Leopards (5-5) dealt the Red and Blue a convincing 7-2 defeat. "I was just very unhappy with the performance," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "We didn't hustle to ground balls. We didn't get into the game mentally. We were flat. Lafayette came down and just wanted to beat us." In Saturday's home win over Harvard, the Quakers scored the first five goals, holding on for the 11-10 Ivy win. Last night, though, it was the Quakers' opponent who scored the first five goals with strong play in the early minutes. The Quakers were flat in the first half, being outhustled, outshot (20-8) and beaten on the draws. Lafayette's Olivia Long and Loren Berkheimer combined for five goals in building a 7-1 halftime lead. "They came out really strong. I don't think we were really awake at the beginning," Penn senior co-captain Darah Ross said. "We had some problems with our fundamentals today. They capitalized on those mistakes and turned them into goals." After the Harvard win, Penn opted not to have practice Sunday. At halftime last night, though, it was clear the team was not performing like a prepared unit. The Quakers then tried to make up for their lost day of practice by passing and picking up ground balls during halftime instead of entering the normal huddle. After regrouping, the Quakers went out and played a stellar 30 defensive minutes. But Penn senior co-captain Emmy Hansel's spectacular goal -- with the foul -- at just seven minutes remaining was the only tally for either team in the second frame. Hansel ended up with both Penn goals in what was the lowest scoring game -- and the lowest scoring half -- for the Quakers this year. Quakers freshman goalie Christian Stover played another strong game in net, making several big saves in a shutout second half. Stover faced 17 more shots than her Leopards counterpart and had 18 saves on the game. "Christian [Stover] kept us in," Sage said. "She's been a stabilizing force back there. She's really stepped up, and that's important." Once again, however, a strong second-half effort was not enough to bring the Quakers back into the game. "The first half, everyone, including me, was just a little out of it for one reason or another," Stover said. "That's one of our problems -- not getting into the game in the first half. [Against Harvard] was the first time all year that we'd been able to capitalize in the beginning." "We just didn't have the ball [in the first half]. They were just beating us on the draw, getting the ground balls, the missed passing," Sage said. "[In the second half] we played better -- but when you're down six goals you have to do something." The Quakers, who defeated the Leopards 16-11 in last year's finale, just did not seem ready last night. While Penn's shutout second-half defense was its best performance on that end this season, it wasn't enough to overcome a six-goal halftime deficit. Nor was it enough to remove the bitter taste from Sage's mouth about the performance. In the end, it was the same old story -- too little too late.