Fans who watched the No. 20 Penn women's lacrosse team yesterday afternoon simultaneously saw the merits of a balanced attack and the flaws of a one-dimensional one.
Ten Quakers scored while only two Harvard players found the net in a 15-4 drubbing of the Crimson (3-7, 1-1 Ivy) at Franklin Field.
"The nice thing was that we played a lot of different players today," Penn coach Karin Brower said of her team (8-4, 3-1). "I think it was a whole team effort. They all were doing a lot on attack, movement-wise."
Penn was paced by four players who all scored at least twice. Meanwhile, Harvard relied on one player, Sarah Bancroft, for three of its four goals; her hat trick served only to stem the Quakers' tide.
The Red and Blue carried momentum from Wednesday's 8-6 upset win over No. 13 Penn State into yesterday's game. Senior attacker Ali Ryan supplied the first two goals, spurring Penn to a 4-0 lead.
The outcome was never in doubt, as Brower saw her team take an insurmountable 11-1 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
During the decisive first and second periods, Penn outshot its opponent 31-3 and enjoyed a 12-1 advantage in draw controls.
In all, Penn converted on 15 of 41 shots -- a 36.6-percent shooting clip in an area that had been of concern to Brower.
The win marked the third straight for the Red and Blue, which boosted its record to 5-2 at home. Its only losses at Franklin Field have been to No. 1 Northwestern and No. 3 Johns Hopkins.
The team is hitting its stride at the best possible time, with games upcoming at Dartmouth and at Princeton. The former is the defending Ivy League champion; the latter is undefeated in the Ivies this year.
Penn's current crop of seniors has never beaten either team.
"[The win] is definitely big," Brower said of handing Harvard its first Ivy loss. "But every game in April is a must-win."
Emily Cochran led the Quakers on the day with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. But now the senior midfielder has her eye on the next of those must-wins.
"We're really eager to play Dartmouth. We've never beaten Dartmouth before, and they already have two losses in the Ivies," she said of Penn's upcoming trip to Hanover.
"We have to be undefeated this month," she added. "It's one game at a time. If we can beat Princeton, it'll be a three-way tie for first place [in the Ivy League]."
After suffering through what Brower admitted was an imperfect March, Penn can clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title for the first time since 1982 by winning out in April.
The accompanying NCAA Tournament berth would be its first since an 18-1 first-round loss to Delaware in 1984.
Before that, though, the Quakers need to worry about the Big Green, which despite its two losses has a chance at a share of the Ivy crown.
Brower can only hope for as dominant a performance as she got yesterday.
