An 'L' for W. Lax where it didn't expect one

In its previous 22 games, the Penn women's lacrosse team was undefeated against teams not named Northwestern.

But after a spring break trip to California, that's not the case anymore.

The No. 6 Quakers were upset by then-unranked Stanford, 10-8 on March 9. But Penn rebounded, beating California-Berkeley, 12-7 last Tuesday and winning 10-4 against Yale (4-2, 0-1 Ivy) Saturday.

The loss to now-No. 14 Stanford (6-2), was marked by sluggish play, especially at the start of the game.

"We just didn't play well," coach Karin Brower said. "We didn't play for 60 minutes. Instead, we only played tough for the last five minutes.

"It's tough. But luckily, we put it behind us."

The Quakers (4-1, 1-0 Ivy) never really got the ball going against the Cardinal, going over 16 minutes before scoring. Despite a furious late run that saw Stanford's lead shrink from 9-5 to 9-8, Penn just couldn't get over the hump.

"Between the traveling, the team coming off of exam week, and then also the serious weather, took a really big toll on us," senior captain Sarah Waxman said. "We went from practicing in, like, 15-degree weather to playing a game in 85-degree weather."

The loss was the first upset the Quakers suffered since a March 2006 loss to Delaware.

After the Stanford loss, the mood in the locker room "was definitely low," Waxman said. "People were very upset, individually and as a team, for not performing.

"But I think it was a good thing for us since we had to turn around immediately . But at the same time it was very disappointing to know that we should've beaten that team, and not by a few goals but by a lot."

If the Stanford game was the nadir of the team's games over the break, the Yale win was clearly the highlight.

The Bulldogs and Quakers were neck-and-neck in the first half, with the score knotted at four going into the break. But in the second half, Penn dominated, scoring six goals to Yale's zero.

"It was huge to come out and win at Yale, and make a statement. That Yale team is a good team, but we dominated them. It gave us some confidence," Waxman said.

"It was really fun. We knew their plays really well, and the defense did a really good job in forcing them to take some bad shots. I was able to come up with some saves unlike before."

The team had a similar strong second half against Cal (3-4), breaking open a 5-4 game with a 7-3 second half to put the game away.

The Quakers' next matchup is against No. 19 Penn State at Franklin Field Wednesday. And while they don't know if they'll need another strong second half to clinch the win, they do know one thing: They're just glad to be home after playing their first five games on the road.

"It's good to be back playing our first home game," Waxman said. "I think the five-game road trip was really hard, but it came out all right."

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