W. Lax still looking for first victory

After a team meeting on Tuesday, the Quakers are focused on picking up a win at Temple this afternoon. On Tuesday, Lafayette became the third team this season to race to a 5-0 lead on the Penn women's lacrosse team. The Quakers' record now mirrors that statistic, as they now stand at 0-5. The squad will try to turn its campaign around today at Temple's Geasey Field at 3:30 p.m. Penn was underwhelming for the month of March. The Quakers lost games that they could have won against Stanford and Boston College at home. Their other three games were over quickly, as Yale, Cornell and Lafayette all jumped out to five-plus goal leads before the Red and Blue could register anything on the scoreboard. The winless Quakers, however, met after Tuesday's loss to the Leopards and decided that they have had enough losing. The team has refocused and will try to put its first win on the board today at Temple (1-5). "After Lafayette, we talked about needing to not be stuck in a big deficit at the start of the game," said Penn assistant coach Alanna Wren, who has been leading the Quakers since the team petitioned for the removal of head coach Anne Sage four weeks ago. "A lot of our problems have to do with the mental part of the game. You get those early mistakes and turnovers -- when you step onto that field, it has to be time to focus on lacrosse." The Quakers will not only have to maintain focus to beat the Owls, who were No. 19 last week before dropping out of the national rankings with a loss to No. 1 Maryland. It will take the Quakers' best effort in every part of the game, including the goaltending of Christian Stover, whose performance in a 13-4 loss to Temple last year earned her the starting role permanently. "Christian was fantastic against Temple last year," Wren said. "A repeat performance would certainly set us on the right road." Stover, however, is the last line of defense. This afternoon, Penn's midfield will probably need to help the defensive unit if the Quakers are to contain the speedy Owls. "Attempting to slow down the game and combat the fast break [will be key]," Wren said. "All that fun stuff you have to do to slow down a fast, physical team. [I am] just expecting a battle? but I do think that they're going to look to put a pounding on us. They won't hold back and they're very aggressive." After what Wren called an "upbeat and encouraging" practice yesterday, the Quakers will also be trying to take out some frustrations of their own on the Owls. "I think both teams are excited for the game," said junior attacker Brooke Jenkins, one of the team's co-captains. "I just hope that it goes our way." Jenkins, who leads Penn with 12 goals this season, may not be able to play today, however. She will undergo an MRI today to examine her knee. Jenkins tore the ACL in the same knee in last season's opener and missed the entire season. "I hope to play but it's up to what the doctor says," Jenkins said. "I wasn't as worried about it [as the trainers] but they just don't want me causing more serious damage and really chewing the knee up." Penn will certainly be in trouble if Jenkins is not part of the attack today. After a rocky start, the Red and Blue offense has finally become more patient and the freshmen on the squad have integrated themselves well into the flow. A major injury to Jenkins at this point in the season could crush the team, which still has to face three ranked opponents after the Owls. "I'm just expecting effort and focus," Wren said. "That's all I can ask and just hope that one of these days we come out on the winning end of things."