With five games in 15 days, the women's lacrosse team needed a break. S=ix match-free days following its Cornell match on Sunday allowed the Quakers to catch their breath.
But now that time is up, as No. 8 Penn (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) will take on a middling Columbia team (3-4, 0-2) tomorrow at Franklin Field.
The Red and Blue used the extra time to get back to basics.
"We worked on our trap a lot, as well as causing more turnovers," coach Karin Brower said. "Offensively we focused on carrying the ball upfield with more confidence.
"Basic 101 things, since it's hard to do that when you just have a few days in between games to prepare for the next opponent."
The Lions - who have never beaten Penn in their 11 tries dating back to 1997 - have struggled to find any consistency this year. In one three-game stretch they scored 14, two and then 21 goals.
"Columbia has a couple of good players," Brower said. "We're going to try and shut them down. But basically it's going to be about us."
"This is a big opportunity for us to get rolling again on the scoreboard," senior attacker Melissa Lehman said. "Our attack really needs to focus on putting the ball in the back of the net. And this weekend is a good chance for us to get into an attacking flow again."
The attack certainly has been on everyone's mind, as it has been much less prolific than last year.
Although the Quakers boast the exact same record as they did last year after seven games, the offense has only scored 65 goals, compared to the 82 of the 2007 campaign.
Brower explained that the 2.5 goals per game difference was due to a more deliberate tempo.
"We've had some games where we haven't been running motions for 60 minutes, and I think for us it's about 60 minutes of really good lacrosse," she said.
"But I also think they've been very patient and kept the tempo well. We don't want them to go to goal right away. We really want them to work the defenses and allow us to be on attack for a while."
Another reason for the lower offensive output has been the injury to junior attacker Becca Edwards. She tore her ACL against Stanford on March 9. Edwards was an honorable mention All-Ivy last year.
"She's definitely a really big part of the attack," Lehman said.
"She was always a threat with the ball, looking to feed and going hard. But I think our attack right now - as shown in the last game- - was a pretty balanced group."
In the last game, seven different Quakers scored.
Whether or not the Quakers maintain this balance remains to be seen. But with a few extra days to catch their breath, it would be a surprise if the offense didn't improve.
