No. 2 Tigers rout W. Lax at Old Nassau

The Quakers looked good early, but a ong scoring drought gave Princeton the 19-4 victory. PRINCETON, N.J. -- Taken at face value, the Penn women's lacrosse team's fourth consecutive loss might seem to signal a death knell to the squad's season. But while the Quakers fell hard, 19-4, the loss was at the hands of No. 2 Princeton and could not be taken entirely as negative. "Bottom line, they're a better team. They're the No. 2 team in the country, and even though you don't want to go into a game thinking that you're going to lose, they're that good. And I'd like to see them take the national championship," said Penn coach Karin Brower, a former assistant at Princeton. "Honestly, I think this was one of the best games we've played, despite the score. We were more aggressive than we've ever been. "They never gave up, and they played with a lot of heart. And that was what I asked of them today." The Quakers (5-6, 1-5 Ivy League) knew they would be in for their toughest game at Old Nassau. The Tigers (12-1, 5-0) have defeated nine ranked opponents, and they own a defense that has allowed fewer than seven goals per contest. And while Penn knew it would be the underdog of underdogs on the grass of Palmer Field, it still headed in believing it could be a spoiler. Princeton had other plans, though, and three different Tigers netted the first three scores over the first nine minutes. The Quakers stayed in the game, however, with an early goal by Whitney Horton and two goals just a minute apart from Traci Marabella and Brooke Jenkins which made the score 7-3 midway through the first half. "I thought Penn did a good job moving the ball early against our defense. We were back on our heels, and we weren't alert," Princeton coach Chris Sailer said. "They had a couple of really good scoring opportunities and even hit the post. But then we were able to sort it out." Princeton was definitely able to sort it out, as from that point on, the game was all Orange and Black. Using an aggressive defense and multi-faceted offense, the Tigers rolled off 10 consecutive goals and held Penn scoreless for over 34 minutes. "I think that this was one of those games where I was really concentrating on seeing the ball and making sure I knew what shot was being taken," Princeton goalie Laura Field said. The Quakers took 17 shots, but were unable to convert even a quarter of them against Field and the Tigers D. "Princeton has the best defense we've come across," Brower said. "I was trying to get them to shoot early, and we told them to shoot low. But they just were telegraphing -- they just weren't taking the smart shots. We shot a lot of no-angle shots." When Jenkins finally found the net again for Penn with four minutes remaining, it was 17-4 and the home squad was rolling to its seventh straight win over the Quakers. "Princeton just took control of the game," Jenkins said. "They have a good defense -- that's what they're known for. We lost the ball a lot going into the midfield and the attack. And we knew we needed to shoot low but we didn't." While a quick glance at the scoreboard might indicate complete annihilation, there were some bright spots for the Red and Blue. Christian Stover made 22 saves for Penn and held the Tigers to one goal on seven free-position chances. And Christy Bennett, Amy Weinstein and the Quakers' collective defense put forth a solid showing against their intimidating, top-flight opponent. "We lost 19-4, but we played our hearts out and that showed defensively," Penn defender Ella Masson said. "I think we just all get fired up and take all the risks that we can in these games because we are the underdog. There's nothing to lose out, so we just go out and do what we can." Penn's active defense stymied the Tigers at times but committed 16 fouls to the Tigers' eight. The Quakers did, however, win the battle for ground balls, 37-to-33. "I was proud of my team, especially defensively and especially of Christian in the cage," Brower said. "I told them not to be upset about this, and [Princeton] is better and should beat us. But I don't think the score is really indicative of how we played them. "And I think if we can build on these last two games, it's a good way for us to go into Brown."

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