W. Lax to face top-ranked Princeton

The Penn women's lacrosse team will need luck on its side if the Quakers hope to knock off Princeton, the No. 1 team in the country.

The Quakers will travel to Princeton, N.J., today to take on the Tigers (11-1, 4-0 Ivy League) on Class of 1952 Field at 7:30 p.m.

After starting their season with a 15-13 overtime loss to defending national champion Georgetown, the Tigers have gone on an 11-game winning streak -- including five wins against top-10 teams.

During the win streak, Princeton has outscored its opponents 162-73.

The Quakers, on the other hand, are struggling as of late, after losing to both Rutgers and No. 18 Ivy rival Dartmouth.

The Red and Blue were defeated, 6-5, in both contests.

Tonight's game will be the most difficult test of the year for the Quakers (5-6, 2-3).

"Playing the No. 1 team in the country is an opportunity for us to show them what we can do," Penn coach Karin Brower said.

The Tigers are led by a strong group of talented upperclassmen -- Princeton returned 10 starters from last season's NCAA semifinalist.

"They have six All-Americans on the team with a great senior class and lots of leadership," Brower said.

Three of these senior leaders are attackers -- Lauren Simone, Charlotte Kenworthy and Kim Smith. Last season, all three players were First team All-Ivy selections. Simone garnered second team All-American status, while Smith took home a third team nod.

This season, the trio has been just as dominant. Simone is tied for the team lead in goals with 29. Smith has netted 23 goals, with Kenworthy closely behind with a nearly as impressive 19 tallies.

"The tough thing is that they have seven attackers that can score," Brower said. "Not one or two that you have to worry about, so individual matchups are not as big a deal -- everyone can score."

Besides wielding a powerful offense, the Tigers also possess one of the nation's most talented defensive units.

Anchoring Princeton's defensive unit is junior first team All-American Rachel Becker. Becker led the Tigers in caused turnovers with 32 and was third in ground balls with 45 last season.

"Becker is one of the best defenders in the country," Brower said.

Becker's strong play coupled with the Tigers' offensive strength has allowed Princeton to emerge with the nation's best scoring margin. The Tigers score 7.25 more goals than they allow.

Facing a team of Princeton's ability, Brower has been hard-pressed to develop a game-plan to counter the No.1 team in the nation. Her solution -- keep it simple.

"We need to move the ball quickly and not get stuck in double teams. They are aggressive and try to force the mistakes on you," Brower said. "We also need to move the ball and spread it out against their defense."

Although the Quakers acknowledge their underdog status, they are still holding out hope for an upset.

"We are going to try to play them tight and pull out an upset," Brower said. "If we can do that, we'll shock the lacrosse world."

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