W. Lax hits wall in loss at Temple

The Red and Blue couldn't push their way past the Owls, who held Off Penn's second-half comeback try. It seems all too familiar. The Penn women's lacrosse team spotted Temple a five-goal second-half lead, then stormed back to within two goals, only to be turned away by the Owls, 15-11. The Quakers (5-8) have now lost six consecutive games, several of which have ended in this fashion. "It's about consistency," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "It's also about confidence. When we score, it's like nothing. But when they score, it's like the end of the world. So we score one goal, and they score three." A major problem for the Quakers yesterday -- as well as in recent losses to Rutgers and Brown -- was maintaining momentum over the entire course of the game. Penn goals by freshmen Christy Bennett, Crissy Book, Kate Murray and Bess Lochocki sparked the Quakers to a 4-1 run that brought the visitors to within 10-8 with 13 minutes left. The Penn bench was alive and screaming, and the team was active up and down the field. But when Owls sophomore Jen Jefferson found the net to raise the Temple lead back to three goals, the Quakers fell silent, and a major let-down could be sensed in the Penn contingent. The Owls (8-7) netted four straight goals, three within a two-minute span, to go up 14-8 and break the Quakers' back. "You get this self-confidence and enthusiasm when you score, but it just fades," Lochocki said. "We're trying to figure it out, it's got to be a mental problem." The Red and Blue came out sluggish on the turf in North Philadelphia, and Owls star Kelly Ruch took full advantage of the situation. Ruch -- whose six goals yesterday gives her 54 for the spring -- scored one goal and assisted on another in the first four minutes, as Temple went up 2-0. Penn's Traci Marabella answered at the 22-minute mark, but then the home squad responded with another pair of tallies. Held scoreless for over a 10-minute stretch, it appeared the Quakers might be in for a repeat of last season's 15-1 defeat at the hands of the Owls. But Penn's Brooke Jenkins netted a pair of goals, and Whitney Horton's strong move to net and low left-handed score brought Penn to within 6-4 with five minutes left in the first frame. "I think it was key that we had the lead at halftime," said Temple coach Kim Ciarrocca, whose Owls extended their lead back to 8-4 at intermission. "We're young, and we're making some dumb mistakes still. So I was happy to see we were up by four or five goals at the half." As happy as Ciarrocca was at her team's two tallies -- both by Ruch -- in the last 68 seconds of the first half, Brower must have been equally as disappointed. Even after a fiery halftime speech, the Quakers remained on the low end of the roller coaster that is momentum, as Ruch scored another goal merely nine seconds after the half's opening draw. From this point, however, Penn's Alaina Harper took charge in the net. Having replaced Christian Stover midway through the first half, Harper dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half. The freshman saved several free position shots by the Owls and was a force in the cage. "Penn's goalie must have had 15 saves today. She did a nice job of shutting us down," Ciarrocca said. "We fell apart for 10 or 15 minutes, and Penn absolutely capitalized on it." The Quakers did capitalize, but, once again, it proved not to be enough. Murray's goal and Lochocki's first of three tallies brought Penn to within two at 10-8 and rattled the Owls into taking a timeout and switching goalies. It appeared that the Quakers were going to make a bid for the lead, but a combination of ill-advised Penn passes led to turnovers. And a strong Temple offense proved to be too much for the Red and Blue. "We were letting their cutters go in from the top and shoot pretty easily," said Book, who played for the second straight game with a heavily taped-up sprained ankle. Jefferson and Ruch combined on three quick goals to devastate the Quakers. The experienced Owls used their dominance in the face-off arena, as well as a a profound size advantage at several positions, to pound out the victory. Lochocki added her second and third scores of the afternoon within a 16-second span, and freshman Lindsay Smith netted her fourth of the spring, but it was too little too late. "My confidence has finally come back to me," Lochocki said. "I finally feel like I'm playing like myself." Penn heads into its final game of the spring at Monmouth tomorrow afternoon in a tailspin. The team shines at times on both ends of the field, but must deal with the volatile gambit that its emotions and momentum seem to run if it is to have a chance at a season-ending victory. "There's one game left, and basically we said to them that we worked eight months for these 14 games, and this is the last one," Brower said. "And they can either go away from this season feeling good, or go away with seven losses in a row. It's definitely a winnable game."

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