The team's leading scorer went out with a leg injury early in the game. But the rest of the star's teammates responded and pulled out a hard fought victory with a balanced scoring attack led by a senior co-captain.
No, this is not a recap of the Georgia Tech basketball team against Nevada after B.J. Elder sprained his ankle and Marvin Lewis picked up the slack to lead the Yellow Jackets to the Elite Eight.
This was the Penn women's lacrosse team, which persevered against Cornell, 13-7, on Saturday without sophomore Emily Cochran, who sprained her knee and left the game after picking up a goal and an assist before the injury.
Senior co-captain Lindsey Cassidy was the one filling the void left by the departure of Cochran and her team-leading 21 goals. She picked up a hat trick as the Quakers (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) topped the Big Red (1-6, 0-1) in Ithaca, N.Y., to even their Ancient Eight record.
Cassidy "had a great game for her," Penn head coach Karin Brower said. "She came up with some great opportunities and capitalized on them."
The rest of the Quakers scoring was very even. Junior Katie Spofford and freshman Chrissy Muller each had two goals, while Sara Shelley, Cochran, Allie Juras, Caroline Finger, Ali Ryan and Kate Parker each had one for the Red and Blue.
"It was a thoroughly great overall team effort," Cassidy said.
"The team did a nice job of stepping up and playing through that and playing still with confidence," Brower added.
The win at Schoellkopf Field in terrible conditions -- there was heavy fog and temperatures in the 40s -- snapped Penn's five-game losing streak against Cornell.
The Quakers never trailed in the game. After the teams traded goals in the first 10 minutes, Penn scored three unanswered to take a 5-2 lead.
After Cornell made it a 6-5 game early in the second half, the Quakers reeled off four straight goals to extend their lead. They then answered the Big Red's next two goals with three of their own to create the final margin.
The Quakers were able to control the flow of the game, something that Brower stressed before the contest.
"We had the ball more on attack and we played much more composed on attack," Brower said. "We controlled this game."
According to Cassidy, the most important factor in the Quakers' victory was "putting everything together."
They did so by making the most of their offensive opportunities, something they did not do last week in their Ivy-opening loss to Yale.
"The attack finished the job," Brower said.
Junior Liz Lorelli, who was not often tested because Penn maintained possession for most of the game, made four key saves for the Quakers in the net.
Cochran's injury occurred when she was pushed in front of the net and got tangled up with a defender. She will be evaluated today.
The Quakers were also without junior co-captain Kate Miller, a defender who missed the game with a sprained ankle.
Penn is back in action tomorrow night when it hosts No. 12 Johns Hopkins at 7 p.m.
PENN 13, Cornell 7
Penn goal scorers: Muller (2), Shelley (1), Cochran (1), Juras (1), Spofford (2), Finger (1), Cassidy (3), Ryan (1), Parker (1)
