The Penn women's lacrosse team does not have a great deal of time to digest its loss to No. 1 Princeton Wednesday night.
The Quakers go right from the frying pan into the fire, as they head to Hanover, N.H., to meet No. 12 Dartmouth tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Scully-Fahey Field.
The Big Green (7-2, 4-0 Ivy) is tied with the Tigers atop the Ivy League standings. The Quakers' (7-6, 3-2) postseason hopes are riding on this game. If the Red and Blue prevail, and then beat Brown next week, they will be in position for a three-way tie for second in the Ivy League with Dartmouth and Brown. If that happens, the Quakers' fate is in the hands of the NCAA selection committee.
"If we lose, it's done," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "If we win, I don't know."
"It's a crapshoot," she added.
However, NCAA aspirations are not Penn's focus for this game. Instead, the Quakers are rebounding quickly from their shellacking at the hands of Princeton.
"The most important thing is that we have a chance to give Dartmouth ... a run for their money, and hopefully a loss," Brower said.
She hopes that her team will play with more confidence than it did at the beginning of Wednesday's game, in which the Quakers were dominated, 7-1, in the first half.
Brower is trying to use the second half of Wednesday's game, where Penn was only outscored 3-2, to show the Quakers that they can play with the nation's elite.
"The second half gave them confidence," she said.
Brower also said that Penn would go back to its usual game plan, eschewing the slow, patient offense that was more of a defensive measure against the Tigers.
An interesting development heading into tomorrow's game is the goaltending situation. Junior Liz Lorelli, who has started every game of the season to this point, was pulled against Princeton in the first half. Her backup, sophomore Karrie Moore, came into the game and allowed the Tigers only four goals in the remaining 38:42. Moore also recorded nine saves in her third outing of the season.
Brower is leaning toward giving Lorelli her job back, although she is not ready to make a definitive choice.
"We have to see how practices go, and make that decision at warmup on Saturday," Brower said.
Brower was not concerned, however, about Lorelli's mental makeup and ability to shake off the loss.
"I don't think a whole lot bothers Liz," Brower said.
Lorelli sounded just as confident as her coach thinks she is.
"I'm not going to let that happen again," she said.
"All I gotta do is make sure I play my game the way I want to," Lorelli added.
Penn has not beaten Dartmouth in Brower's five-year tenure, and the Quakers have had trouble beating teams who they have not defeated in the past. That must change if the Red and Blue want to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
