The Penn women's lacrosse team has to be happy that it does not have to face Yale senior Miles Whitman anymore. Whitman scored four goals in the Elis' 14-7 win over the Quakers Saturday at Johnson Field in New Haven, Conn. The Baltimore native has 20 goals in her career against Penn.
Penn freshman Chrissy Muller had a hat trick for the Quakers (4-3, 0-1 Ivy), giving her nine goals on the season.
The No. 14 Elis (3-2, 1-0) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in Ivy League opener for both teams, but the Red and Blue came back to tie the game at four behind two goals from sophomore Emily Cochran and one each from Muller and junior Allie Juras.
Penn coach Karin Brower said her team played a "pretty good first half after the 3-0 start."The teams traded goals until Whitman's second goal with just 10 seconds left in the first half gave the Elis a 7-6 halftime lead.
However, the second half was a different story.
After a scoreless first 10 minutes, Yale scored two goals in 20 seconds to make it 9-6. Sophomore Ali Ryan scored for the Quakers with 15 minutes left to make it 9-7, but that was the closest Penn got. As the Red and Blue took chances to try to even the score, the Elis took advantage and scored the final five goals.
"Defensively, we did a better job stopping them in a settled attack," Brower said.
"We weren't communicating well," she added.
With the Quakers trailing by four with 10 minutes left in the contest, they unsuccessfully tried to open up the play to create more scoring opportunities.
The Elis turned Penn's aggression into fast breaks in the other direction to tack on their late goals.
Brower said that her team did not take smart shots, and that her attackers were not controlling the plays. Furthermore, the Quakers "didn't match up well" for trying to make another comeback.
Brower praised her team's effort in coming back from the initial three-goal deficit.
"They played with a lot of confidence," she said.
She added that she saw "great things in the first half."
In the end, Yale was too skilled for the Quakers, firing 28 shots on Penn junior goalie Liz Lorelli.
Brower was pleased with her team's resolve, however, as it stood up to the nationally ranked Elis.
"They never gave up," she added. "I give them a lot of credit for that."
The Quakers again will travel north this weekend, as they face Cornell (1-4) at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y.
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Yale | 7 | 7 | 14 |
First half -- 1, 29:44 Melniker (Y); 24:33 Sargent (Y); 3, 23:21 Croffy (Y); 4, 19:06 Muller (P); 5, 18:37 Driscoll (Y); 6, 16:51 Juras (P); 7, 13:29 Cochran (P); 8, 12:33 Cochran 2 (P); 9, 9:37 Whitman (Y); 10 6:06 Muller 2 (P); 11, 4:28 Whitman 2 (Y); 12, 2:50 Muller 3 (P); 13, 0:10 Whitman 3 (Y)
Second half -- 14, 20:17 Croffy 2 (Y); 15, 19:57 Melniker 2 (Y); 16, 15:14 Ryan (P); 17, 11:57 Sargent 2 (Y); 18, 9:51 Melniker 3 (Y); 19 6:21 Vogler (Y); 20, 2:14 Sargent 3 (Y); 21, 1:42 Whitman 4 (Y)
