All season long, the Penn women's lacrosse team has had trouble playing for the whole 60 minutes against ranked teams. Be it a defensive breakdown or a stalled offensive attack, Penn has not been able to finish games.
Despite last night's double overtime loss to No. 18 Penn State, the Quakers fianlly showed why they should not be counted out of the NCAA Tournament race just yet.
"This game was the first time all season that the defense showed what they are made of," sophomore defender Kate Parker said. "We started talking more on defense, which built up our trust of one another and allowed us to be more aggressive."
Parker was certainly one of the Quakers' most aggressive defenders, as she caused two turnovers, both resulting in Penn goals, in the first half alone.
However, the story of the game was the offensive chemistry between sophomore Ali Ryan and freshman Chrissy Muller. The pair hooked up for two spectacular goals, with Ryan one-timing perfect feeds from Muller, who was stationed behind the net.
"Chrissy and I have been working on that play for the last few weeks," Ryan said. "Tonight we were able to execute it twice, hooking up for two easy goals."
But all was not as easy for the Quakers. Only 8:12 into the first half, Penn found itself down four goals to one. The Penn attack was being shut down by the outstanding play of Penn State junior goalie Lee Tortorelli, and the defense was unable to deny the Nittany Lions' cutters.
After Penn State's fourth goal, Penn coach Karin Brower called a timeout to calm down her team.
"I told them to play the game as if it were 0-0," Brower said. "Partially because we don't play well when we are behind and partially because I wanted to show this team that we were still in it."
Brower's words seemed to have a prolific effect on the Quakers. After allowing four goals in the first 8:12, Penn held the Nittany Lions scoreless for the rest of the first half and the first 6:12 of the second half.
In the same period of time, the Quakers also tallied five goals of their own.
"After the timeout our defense started making stops," Brower said. "Our attack was able to feed off that momentum and put the ball in the net."
However, Penn State was able to rally its offense and tie the score with 20:12 left in the first half.
What ensued next was a testament to the amount the Quakers have grown this season. In previous close games, the Red and Blue have fallen apart in the second half. However, in the second half of last night's game, whenever the Nittany Lions took the lead, the Quakers were able to quickly tie the game back up.
At the end of regulation, the score was tied at eight. The first extra period passed without much flair, but the second overtime was a frenzy of action.
Penn gained possession first, but an errant long pass gave the ball back to Penn State. After running a set piece, the Nittany Lions hit attacker Karen Long in front of the net. Penn junior goalie Liz Lorelli made a point blank save against Long's shot and then scrambled to stop another close shot.
After regaining possession, Lorelli ran the ball up the field, only to have it stripped from her while she was 100 feet out of the net. After a quick pass, Penn State midfielder Shari Maslin was able to score on the open net, putting the Nittany Lions up for good.
"There is no denying that this was a heartbreaking loss," Brower said. "But we played one of the best games we have played all season. We played hard and if we can bring the same intensity to our next few games, we can finish higher in the league than anyone predicted."
