Late W. Lax rally comes up just short

Despite six consecutive goals in the closing minutes, Penn lost its second straight to Rutgers, 15-11. NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- For the second consecutive game, the Penn women's lacrosse team used a late comeback to bring it to the brink of victory, only to not get the final push to put it over the top. On the strength of six goals from captain Liz Chambers, Rutgers (5-6) jumped out to a 9-3 halftime lead and held off a furious Penn (5-4) rally in the closing minutes to defeat the Quakers, 15-11. "I'm really happy with the first half. We did what we were supposed to do -- aggressive defense and attacking the goal cage," Scarlet Knights coach Anna Marie Vesco said. "And then in the second half, Penn just wanted it more." Penn senior Brooke Jenkins netted three goals while Jenny Hartman, Traci Marabella and Kate Murray each added a pair, but Rutgers goalie Lauren Gulotta made 12 saves to ensure the victory. "Defensively, everyone didn't do a good job of denying the ball. Our biggest thing was turning the ball over in the midfield and letting them come in on fast breaks," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "We had a great comeback for the last 10 minutes, but you can't get in a hole that big and expect to come back and win against a team of this caliber." Down 13-5 with 13 minutes remaining, Alison Polk-Williams found the net for the Quakers, spurring Penn on to another late comeback. On Sunday, the Quakers scored five straight late goals in an 11-9 loss to Harvard. Yesterday, behind Murray's two goals, a pair from Jenkins and a score from Marabella, Penn brought the Rutgers lead down to 13-11 with three minutes left. That was as close as the Quakers would get. "It's so frustrating. We know we have the potential to score all the time and to play that way, but it just doesn't hit us until the second half," Hartman said. Two goals by Chambers in the final minutes sealed the Quakers' fate. "I'm just glad we won," Chambers said. The start of the game, much like the final 10 minutes, looked promising for the Red and Blue. Jenkins started the scoring two minutes in off a pass from Jayme Munnelly, and Penn had several early opportunities deep in the Scarlet Knights zone. Rutgers tied it on a free-position shot by Andrea Boeheim, but Hartman responded 20 seconds later. The sophomore fired a shot off of Gulotta's mask, got the rebound and put it home to give Penn a 2-1 lead. "I was definitely pumped to score a goal and get ahead early, but then it kind of fell apart," said Hartman, ecstatic at having scored on Gulotta, a former high school teammate. "I think we have a tendency to score some early goals and then sort of relax." The entire night, the host Scarlet Knights proved to be difficult to handle on attack. A quick team, Rutgers constantly found themselves getting behind the Penn defense on fast breaks and on set plays. While Chambers was the focal point of the home squad's attack, the Scarlet Knights had four players score more than once. Quakers goalie Alaina Harper, in her first collegiate start, was peppered with shot after shot in the first half. The freshman made a number of saves, but nine Rutgers blasts found their way past her. "Of course I was nervous, but I knew the coaches and my teammates had faith in me, so that was comforting," Harper said. "As a team we decided to step it up -- we decided that 9-3 was not the team that we were." Penn junior Christian Stover, who started the Quakers' first eight games, took over in net for the second half. Stover fared slightly better against the slippery Rutgers attack, allowing six goals in the final 30 minutes. The keeper was helped immensely as freshman Christy Bennett and the Penn defense clamped down and forced a plethora of second-half turnovers. In a messy game with a number of turnovers on each side, the Quakers were also plagued by a spate of fouls. Nearly every call in the first 30 minutes seemed to give Rutgers the ball, and the home team scored three free-position goals on the afternoon.

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