It is easy to look at the Cornell women's lacrosse team's record of 1-5 and think that Penn should have no problem with the Big Red tomorrow. However, four of those five losses came to teams in the top 20, including defeats at the hands of No. 2 Georgetown and No. 3 Notre Dame.
Cornell has also beaten Penn five straight years -- history that the Red and Blue are undoubtedly aware of.
The Quakers (4-3, 0-1 Ivy) must be very careful at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y.
Without junior co-captain Kate Miller, who is out at least for this week with a sprained ankle, the Quakers look to buckle down and avoid mental errors.
"Kate's a really vocal leader," senior co-captain Lindsey Cassidy said.
She added that Penn will be relying on sophomores Lauren McDermott and Kate Parker to "step it up" on the field.
"On defense we have to ... pressure out hard and bring the ball out with confidence," Penn coach Karin Brower said.
Penn will be looking to contain senior Jaime Quinn and juniors Kristen Smith and Lindsay Steinberg.
The trio has combined for 30 goals leading up to Cornell's Ivy opener.
On attack, Brower hopes that the Quakers finish their opportunities better than they did last week in their Ivy League-opening 14-7 loss at Yale.
That can be accomplished, Brower said, by getting out to a quick start.
"It's important that we come out hard and take the game from the beginning," she said.
Brower added that the Quakers must play their way and not let the Big Red dictate the flow of the game. Cassidy echoed this point.
"Our attackers really need to stick to our game plan," she said.
According to Brower, Penn will also be trying to turn the ball over and create fast-break opportunities in transition, something that the Quakers did with great success in their previous victory against Temple last Wednesday.
After the disappointing loss last week to the Elis, Cassidy thinks that Penn has enough motivation to avoid the mental breakdowns that plagued them in that loss.
"We worked hard all week to avoid mental errors," she said.
Just as the Red and Blue snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Owls last week, Cassidy thinks that Penn can snap its five-year drought against Cornell.
"People are ready to go out there and play," she said.
