W. Lax finishes disappointing season

The Penn women's lacrosse team wrapped up a season that it would like to forget on Saturday with a 13-2 loss against Brown in Providence, R.I. The loss capped a season in which the Quakers were outscored by a 157-55 margin and set team records for futility with 12 losses and a .077 winning percentage. "The game at Brown was kind of frustrating," Penn defender Jenni Leisman said. "We were all kind of expecting to come out with a little more than we did and, story of our season, we weren't able to get back." The Quakers' problems began just prior to the season, as the team petitioned for the removal of head coach Anne Sage before its spring training trip to Florida. Assistant coach Alanna Wren led the Red and Blue through the season, and even though the Quakers did their best not to focus on the coaching situation on a day-to-day basis, the preseason controversy cost the team dearly against better-prepared foes during the campaign. "I think that one of the biggest challenges for the team was to move on and play the season from that point on," Leisman said. "We really tried not to focus on that day to day and Alanna helped us a lot. I don't think it affected us as much as it could have." Another thing that could have made the season much worse for the Quakers was Brooke Jenkins' ongoing injury problems. Jenkins tore her right anterior cruciate ligament for the second straight season but missed just one game -- the Quakers' 15-1 loss at Temple on April 1. After passing a strength test later that week, Jenkins was able to return to the Penn lineup for the April 5 game against Notre Dame. The junior co-captain risked further injury to the ligament by coming back and is scheduled to have surgery today to finally repair the injury. "I'd given up the whole season before [in 1998]," Jenkins said. "I like lacrosse too much to give it up again and I figured if something happens, it happens." Jenkins hopes to return for the fall field hockey season in addition to her senior lacrosse go-'round. Senior co-captain Leisman, however, will not be back at Penn next spring. Surprisingly, her brightest memory of the season comes from the Quakers' 17-3 loss to Princeton on April 21. "I felt great after the Princeton game," Leisman said. "We really came together on all parts of the field and I'm really proud that that was my last moment on Franklin Field. We played a great team and played them tough." Unfortunately for the Quakers, playing tough was not enough to put more wins on the board this season.

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