W. Lax: Penn's first half 'lapses' too much to overcome

The Penn women's lacrosse team has been consistently inconsistent lately.

After spotty play hurt the Quakers in their last game -- an 11-6 loss to Cornell -- Penn was looking to rebound with a fundamentally sound win over Rutgers yesterday.

But the Red and Blue continued their sloppy execution, and lost 9-8 at Franklin Field.

"We had mental lapses, especially in the first half," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "It was just like at Cornell."

These first-half 'mental lapses' resulted in the Quakers (2-6, 0-2 Ivy League) falling behind early and never taking advantage of opportunities.

The Scarlet Knights took an early 1-0 lead as they swung the ball around the back of the net and then inside to senior Jessica Apel, who put the ball in the net.

Penn fought back, as senior Alison Polk-Williams scored her sixth goal of the season off a restart of play -- charging toward the net from 10 meters out and putting the ball past the right side of Rutgers goalie Lyndsey Feldman.

But Rutgers scored the next four goals -- three more from Apel and another by sophomore Lisa Savage.

With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Quakers found themselves down, 4-1.

Polk-Williams cut the Scarlet Knights' lead to two at the 2:25 mark when she delivered a bullet pass from the goal line to charging sophomore Katie Spofford -- the goal left the Quakers down 5-2 at the half.

But the final half was a different story.

Less than two minutes after the whistle, Penn senior Crissy Book picked up the ball after it was knocked off her stick and fired it into the net.

After Rutgers netted another goal over the right shoulder of Penn goalie Alaina Harper, the Quakers began to mount their comeback.

First came Polk-Williams' second goal of the day, as she scored as a trailer in a two-on-one fast break from a pass courtesy of freshman Emily Cochran, making the score 6-4.

This was followed by goals by junior Lindsey Cassidy and another by Book, knotting the game at six.

Rutgers' Claire Grooms gave her team a one-goal lead off an eight-meter penalty shot, but Penn came right back, as a streaking Cassidy scored off a Polk-Williams pass.

Following an amazing stick save by Harper on a wide-open Rutgers senior Kristin Checksfield, the Scarlet Knights finally put one by the Quakers goalie. Junior Cristina Curiale lobbed the ball from behind the goal to Savage, who swatted the ball into the net with 7:35 left to play.

But Penn refused to quit.

Sophomore Kate Miller netted her first goal of the year with 2:30 left after her defender lost her balance, cutting the score to 9-8.

Despite many good opportunities -- including two eight-meter penalty shots -- the Quakers could not manage to score the equalizing goal, losing, 9-8, despite outshooting their opponents, 25-16.

"Our shooting has been consistently plaguing us," Brower said. "We failed to rise to the occasion. We're not finishing."

Brower was upset with the inconsistent play of her athletes, especially the seniors.

"We don't play like a team for 60 minutes," she said. "Every individual has lapses. When the offense plays well, it's the defense, and when the defense starts to play well, it's the offense. This caused us to make lots of turnovers, especially by the seniors, which is inexcusable."

Brower was also upset with the calls in the game, as was evident by the yellow card she received for arguing with a referee.

"I was really unhappy with the officiating," she said. "It was very inconsistent. But that's not what lost us the game."

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