W. Lax picks up from last season

It wasn't pretty, but the women's lacrosse team got back to its winning ways of 2007.

In the first game of the 2008 campaign yesterday, the No. 6 Quakers beat Drexel on its home turf, 6-5, in a back-and-forth affair.

Aside from a one-minute stretch in the second half when Penn was up 6-4, neither team took a lead of more than one goal.

"It was a tough, hard-fought first game that can only help us throughout this season," senior attack Melissa Lehman said.

Heading into their opener, the Quakers were concerned about rust. The Dragons had already won two games.

"Drexel's a good team and I think they're going to do a good job in the [Colonial Athletic Association] this year," Penn coach Karin Brower said.

"I give a lot of credit to them; they are clearly a much improved team from last year."

Last year, the Quakers outscored the Dragons 7-0 in the second half en route to a 12-4 win.

With the score tied 3-3 after the first period yesterday, Penn looked like it would go on a similar run when junior Becca Edwards scored 1:30 into the second stanza.

But Drexel quickly stopped that momentum, as less than a minute later sophomore Becca Drylie-Perkins scored her second goal of the game, tying the score at four.

After 16 scoreless minutes, Lehman scored her second goal of the game off of a free-position shot. Five minutes later, sophomore Bethany Warren added some insurance, which paid off because Drexel got a fifth goal with just under seven minutes to play.

But the Quakers held on and earned their first one-goal-margin win since a May 7, 2006 victory over Syracuse.

With the loss, the Dragons are now 31-2 in non-conference games since the 2005 season. Both of those losses have been against the Quakers.

While the score made Lehman happy, winning only four of 13 draw controls did not.

"Draw controls were the biggest factor in the entire game," she said.

"We need to establish control from the draw; that will help us all across the board on attack."

One reason for the poor draw controls was that Penn's specialist, senior Allison Ambrozy, was out with an unspecified injury.

"That's [Ambrozy's] bread and butter," Brower said.

"That stat's important since it gives you confidence once a goal is scored that you can get possession again."

The Quakers won't have long to work on it, as they travel to Chapel Hill to take on No. 4 North Carolina on Saturday.

"We have to focus all week since we have a big opponent coming up," Lehman said.

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