W. Lax takes care of business in round 1

Coming into Sunday's first round of the Women's Lacrosse NCAA Tournament, Penn and Boston University had winning streaks of 11 and 9 games respectively.

So something had to give when the 4th seeded Quakers took on the unranked Terriers.

It turned out the higher seed and longer win streak prevailed.

The Quakers defeated the Terriers 11-5 behind a hat trick by junior attacker Rachel Manson and solid all-around defensive play in front of a near-capacity crowd at Rhodes Field. The game was played there since Franklin Field was being used for graduation.

"We just refuse to lose," Manson said. "We take it one game at a time, but we're determined to come out as the winning team [in the tournament]. Losing doesn't really come to mind."

"We just had something to prove and we wanted to be back on Franklin Field," coach Karin Brower added.

Besides returning to their normal stadium, the Quakers (15-1) also wanted to prove that they were underseeded. Despite a No. 2 ranking, the Quakers dropped to a four seed in the tournament.

Nonetheless, the Terriers (13-6) drew first blood when junior Lauren Morton scored just past the five minute mark.

"It's always good to get an early goal since it gives you confidence," Morton said.

Despite this early dagger, Brower wasn't worried.

"You know that every team you play in the tournament is going to score goals on you," she said. "I don't think there was a time when I was nervous."

Neither were the Quakers, as they rebounded just two minutes later with a goal by freshman Emma Spiro. Penn never trailed again.

The Quaker defense was almost insurmountable, letting up only four other goals.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Quakers' strategy was to maintain possession for as long as possible.

"I think Penn did a great job slowing down the ball attackwise," BU coach Liz Robertshaw said.

This limited the Terriers' opportunities, and worse still they failed to capitalize on them, especially in the second half.

Brower decided to switch to the slowdown strategy after she noticed BU out-hustling the Quakers on draw controls.

"We weren't coming up with as many draw controls as we typically do," she said. "That was a little bit of a change [we made at halftime]."

Before this adjustment, the Terriers had outdrawn Penn 6-5. But in the second half the strategy paid off as the Quakers ended up with four more total draws than the Terriers.

Penn's score of 11 was the third lowest winning score of its season. But the lower score wasn't the only difference in the game. Many of the players noticed a different atmosphere.

"I thought it was really exciting," Manson said. "Walking on the field at the beginning and seeing the line outside of people waiting to pay to get in, that's something we've never experienced before."

The win was the first in the tournament for the Quakers since 1983 when they beat Loyola (Md.) 9-5 in the first round. The Terriers, meanwhile, lost their third straight tournament game in as many years. Their last win was in the first round of the 2005 tournament when they beat Colgate 12-6.

With the win, the Quakers will take on fifth-seeded Maryland this Saturday at 1 pm, in a return to Franklin Field. The Terrapins (16-3) beat unranked Yale 13-7 Sunday behind three goals and two assists by junior Kelly Kasper.

Playing against a top tier team like UMD "gives us a good chance to show what kind of team we've been all year," Brower said.

And although Maryland only has a one-game winning streak, it still will present an even tougher challenge for the Quakers than BU and their nine-game one.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.