Despite heavy rain, the No. 14 Penn women's lacrosse team was able to get back on the right track, defeating Columbia 9-3 for its first win in three games.
Junior Emily Cochran led the Quakers (5-3, 2-1 Ivy) with three goals, including one 35 seconds into the game to put Penn in the driver's seat early.
Columbia (4-4, 0-3) would tie it at one just over a minute later, but the Quakers responded with four of the next five goals going into halftime.
The Penn defense, which had been porous in recent defeats to Cornell and Johns Hopkins, came through for the Quakers. The three goals given up were the fewest on the season and marked a high point for Penn's defensive execution.
"Our defense did a real nice job," coach Karin Brower said. Columbia "didn't score on any settled attacks."
Penn's ability to completely shut down the Lions once they went into their offensive sets was especially impressive. Columbia's first two goals came on fast breaks, while their final one came off a free position shot.
With the improved defense came better offensive execution. Despite the heavy rain in which the contest was played, Penn came up with one of its more polished games of the year.
"We executed better tonight," Brower said. "It was a cleaner game than it has been. We were moving the ball much better."
This led to numerous opportunities for the Penn attack. In addition to Cochran's three goals, freshman Rachael Manson contributed her fourth multiple-goal output of the year, with two. The freshman forward now leads the Quakers with 13 goals on the year.
Ultimately, however, this success was likely caused by the Quakers' offensive flow in the game.
Manson and Cochran's success "can be attributed to the attack movement," Brower said. Junior midfieldwer "Emily [Cochran] did play a good game tonight. She played with confidence."
The Lions tried to rally in the second half, scoring first to bring the score to 5-3. They would get no closer, however, as the Penn defense clamped down to prevent Columbia from scoring any more goals. The Quakers scored the final four goals of the contest.
But it was the Penn defense that was the story of the day. Senior goalkeeper Liz Lorelli faced only seven shots, as compared to the 26 shots Penn took.
The Red and Blue dominated the ground balls game, collecting 29 compared to only 19 by the Lions. The Quakers also turned the ball over six fewer times than Columbia.
This defensive toughness will have to remain constant for the Quakers if they hope to continue the success they saw early on this season. Penn will face No. 7 Penn State on Wednesday, in what should be a much tougher matchup.
"We played more solid one-on-one defense today," Brower said. That "will be important when we go to Penn State."
The Nittany Lions are 7-3 on the year, including a dramatic 14-13 triple-overtime win at then-top-ranked Princeton 14-13 back on March 19.
They did, however, lose to Temple, a team Penn handled 10-4.
