This weekend the Penn women's lacrosse team could be in the zone - Harvard's zone defense, that is. The Quakers have not faced a zone defense so far this season, but the Crimson have a history of employing one.
No. 3 Penn (9-0, 3-0 Ivy) will have to utilize its multifaceted attack in order to defeat the unranked Crimson (4-5, 1-1) and their defense tomorrow in Boston.
"Some of our motions won't work against a zone - some will and some won't," coach Karin Brower said, "We're going to have to figure out other ways to break the zone."
Harvard freshman midfield Tyler Petropolus knows how to execute this style of defense - she leads her team with 12 caused turnovers. But despite this stellar statistic, Brower feels that a lone defender is incapable of shutting down Penn's attack.
"It's not one defender that is able to stop us," Brower said. "They are going to have to put it together with all seven defenders."
And with a number of scorers including Ali DeLuca and Courtney Lubbe - who lead the team this season with 21 and 20 goals, respectively - on the field, it will be difficult to shut down the Quakers' well-balanced scoring corps. The attack has practiced getting inside and low around the cage this week in order to break the Crimson defense.
Petropolus, however, will also be a threat to the Quakers' ball possession with her 23 ground balls and 23 draw controls on the season. The Red and Blue have succeeded in maintaining possession due to their strong draw-winning players, including Emma Spiro, who has grabbed 31 so far. With Spiro's help, the Quakers have controlled the tempos of each of their games.
Harvard's biggest threat on the field, however, will be sophomore midfield Jess Halpern, who was recently named the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. The Crimson's leading scorer has netted 32 goals this year and is also strong on both draw controls and ground balls, having recorded 20 and 17, respectively, this season.
"She is definitely their best forward and is definitely a leader on their team even as a sophomore," DeLuca said.
Brower has a strategy in mind to shut down both Halpern and senior attack Kaitlin Martin, who has 30 goals herself. Spiro and senior defense Hillary Renna will be constantly marking the Crimson's leading scorers, but that could create favorable one-on-one matchups for Harvard.
"No question they are great players, but I think we have two of the best defenders in the country," Brower said. "I'm excited for the matchups to see how we do against that."
The still-undefeated Quakers are not taking this Ivy League matchup lightly. Although they have dropped one spot in this week's rankings, they have their eyes set on their ranking at the end of the season.
"It's an Ivy game, and we're out to win the Ivy championship," Brower said. "We're going to be ready on Saturday."
The Quakers are in the zone - in more ways than one.
