W. Lax loses third straight game

Despite a fast start, the Quakers fell on the road to No. 9 Dartmouth. Going into its game with No. 9 Dartmouth on Saturday, the Penn women's lacrosse team knew it would be in for a long afternoon. But after a quarter of the game had been played, the Quakers (5-5, 1-4 Ivy League) found themselves very much even with the Big Green (8-1, 5-0). Two early goals by sophomore Traci Marabella and a tally by freshman Christy Bennett kept Penn close at 4-3 with 14 minutes left in the first half. The Quakers, however, ultimately could not keep up with the defending Ivy champs, and the home squad pulled away to a 10-4 lead at the break and to an 18-7 victory. All-Americans Jacque Weitzel and Kate Graw combined for five of the Big Green's goals in a 6-1 run late in the first half that broke the game open. "They're just a better team, and they should have beaten us. But I don't think they should have beaten us that badly. I would say they should have beaten us maybe by five or six goals, but I don't think it should have been 11 goals," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "Midfield transition, they doubled real hard and were really aggressive. And then their attackers are just stronger and more physical and go to goal harder than anyone we've seen." Still, the margin was a far cry from last year's blowout at Franklin Field, when the Big Green blitzed Penn by a 20-2 count. Marabella, the Red and Blue's leading scorer did her best to match the Big Green on the scoreboard, tallying four goals, but it was not enough to keep the Quakers hopes alive. The sophomore took a blow to the head early in the first half that required stitches after the game, but stayed on the field after sustaining the injury. "I thought Traci had her best game of the season. She was much better this game, and she had five shots on goal and scored four. She hustled much more in the midfield and came up with the turnovers," Brower said. Penn also received a first-half goal from Crissy Book and a late score from Kate Murray. But Dartmouth goalie Sarah Hughes was able to save 13 shots, and the Big Green offense rolled along, scoring five of the first six goals of the second frame. The Quakers, however, were unable to generate a consistent attack, constantly stymied by not having possession of the ball. "The thing that bothered me was that we didn't have possession that much. Dartmouth would bring the ball down and pass it around for a while and then move it into the middle for a shot," said Penn senior Brooke Jenkins, who noted that the Quakers were unable to follow this same pattern when they brought the ball up. "We forced some turnovers, but they're solid with the ball." With the loss, the Quakers have fallen in three consecutive games, dropping to just 1-4 in Ivy play. And while Penn knew that Dartmouth would be one of its tougher opponents, it was looking to possibly surprise the Big Green powerhouse. But once again, the Quakers defense struggled at times. Though Penn received strong defensive play from Bennett -- who held Weitzel in check for most of the game -- and Whitney Horton, the Quakers were hampered by the need to go with a goalie by committee system. In Wednesday's 15-11 loss at Rutgers, freshman Alaina Harper started in net for Penn and was replaced by junior Christian Stover at the break. Against Dartmouth, the opposite took place, with Stover recording six first-half saves against 10 goals allowed and Harper notching four second-half saves against eight goals. "We had some defensive errors and just didn't communicate too well on defense, and we didn't save a lot of balls," Brower said. "Christian had six saves and 10 goals against, and you can't stay in with that. Both Christian and Alaina have been playing about the same. If one of them goes in and plays great, they'll stay in. "But right now we seem to have to change because we need to try something else. We just need to come up with more saves -- that's the biggest thing." The road doesn't get any easier for the Quakers from here, as the team travels to the other preseason favorite in the Ivies -- No. 2 Princeton -- for a game on Wednesday afternoon. Penn is still optimistic about its chances in that game, but it is an optimism tempered by the Red and Blue's play in Hanover, N.H., over the weekend. "For our team, it's a learning experience," Brower said. "We played better than we've been playing. [But] if we want to get to be at that level of Princeton and Dartmouth, there are definitely individual things that we need to do."