Defense picks up slack for attack

With her team leading 4-2 at halftime, women's lacrosse coach Karin Brower had no trouble identifying who needed to step up.

"I told them that the attack better win the game since the defense was playing so great in the first half," she said.

Using a 5-0 run in the second half, the No. 16 Quakers defeated No. 18 Yale 9-3 yesterday, giving the Quakers their first Ivy win this year.

It was the second straight 5-0 second half run for Penn, which defeated Delaware with a similar spurt last Wednesday.

But what really won it for the Quakers (5-1, 1-0 Ivy League) was the defense, which dominated in the second half as well as the first.

"I'm really proud of the defense," Brower said. "Our transition defense was especially good, and they jumped on the double teams really well."

Specifically, the Quakers shut down junior Lauren Taylor, the top player on the Elis (4-3, 0-1).

"Hilary Renna was on Taylor and kept her to one goal. [Taylor] is one of the best kids in the country, so to give up one goal is a great job."

On the offensive side of the game, the Quakers were led by junior Chelsea Kocis and senior tri-captain Chrissy Muller, who had two goals each. Muller also had an assist and led all players with three points.

"We've only beaten them by one the last two years," senior tri-captain Sarah Eastburn said. "They always play really good against us every year, so beating them by a lot is always great."

Last year's game was decided in double overtime, 9-8, when Kocis scored her first career goal. The year before, the Quakers won 8-7.

Although this year's result differed from the last couple of years, the margin of victory did not surprise Brower.

"It's always a tough game with Yale, but I do think we're the better team," she said. "I think it should have been an even bigger margin by how many shots we had to theirs. I knew that if we played our style we would win this game."

The Quakers dominated on offense, outshooting Yale 32 to 15.

The big win will give the Quakers momentum as their Ivy League schedule continues.

"Our main goal is to win the league, which gives us the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament," Eastburn said. "Beating [Yale] is great, since it's good for our confidence and we're glad we proved ourselves" in the league.

And the Quakers have done so this season with solid all-around play.

"We look real good," Eastburn said. "The midfield is really coming together with the transition game. They're also causing a lot of turnovers, which is really good. The defense is also really solid, so there's no drop off at either end of the field."

This high level of play made a strong impression on Brower after the Yale game.

"I feel we just played our best game of the year," she said.

Even if it's still early in the year, that's nothing to sneeze at.

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