W. Lax | Shall we dance (again)?

Erin Brennan could get used to beating Princeton.

Playing her first game against Penn's archrival, the freshman midfield had a hat trick and two assists, as the women's lacrosse team cruised to a 10-5 victory over the No. 7 Tigers that was not as close as the score indicated.

With the win, the No. 3 Quakers (12-0, 6-0 Ivy) clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title as well as the league's automatic bid to next month's NCAA tournament.

It was Penn's third straight win over the Tigers (10-2, 4-1); Princeton had won 17 of the previous 18 matchups.

"I'm just so excited," said senior Becca Edwards, who added three goals of her own and an assist. "From the beginning of the season we knew it would come down to us and them [for the Ivy League title]. It's a big game. . It's awesome!"

But regardless of the history, it was a rookie who stole the show. Just two and a half minutes into the game, Brennan earned an assist when junior Ali DeLuca caught her pass while cutting into the arc and ripped off a scorching shot.

Brennan soon followed it up with two goals, both in a span of two minutes and both off Courtney Lubbe assists.

The early goals "gave us some room to chill out," Brennan said. "It's always great to have a lead."

Coupled with a second-half goal, Brennan outscored the Tigers until garbage time.

Despite her lack of experience in the rivalry, it was the Garden City, N.Y., native that seemed to be the most excited player on the field, pumping her fist after every goal.

"This definitely was one of the games that I was more pumped up for," she said. "It's [about] being tough out there and bringing that aura to everyone else. Especially since we knew what was riding on this game."

"She was fired up, you could tell in practice yesterday," coach Karin Brower added. "She has a great chance at Rookie of the Year. She's not playing like a freshman."

Although the Tigers would cut the lead to 3-1 after Princeton coach Chris Sailer called a timeout, they would never get any closer to the Quakers.

"I give all the credit to Penn," Sailer said. "The stats tell it all. They had the ball for virtually the entire first half. It's hard to win when you rarely have the ball."

Although Penn had the edge in two of the three big possession stats - it had 23 ground balls to Princeton's 12 and cleared 13 out of 14 attempts versus Princeton's nine of 13 - Princeton ironically had more draw controls in the game (10-7), including a dominant 7-2 margin in the second half. However, four of those draws occurred late in the game, when Princeton went on a 3-1 run to cut the lead down to the final 10-5 score.

But it was too little, too late for the Tigers, as Penn celebrated yet another romp over its foes for the Ancient Eight championship.

"The last three years we've played really well against Princeton," Brower - a former assistant to Sailer - said. "They haven't really been that close on the scoreboard. . Last year we took it to them. Same tonight."

In fact, last year's 9-5 victory was similar to last night's win. Besides the nearly identical score, Princeton started slow, only to go on a late - but meaningless - run. The 2008 game also saw a Penn senior score a hat trick (Rachel Manson) and a freshman score multiple times (Giulia Giordano had two goals).

Edwards, this year's stellar senior, had her second great game against Princeton. Before missing last year's contest with a knee injury, she had five goals in the 2007 contest.

"I really enjoy playing in big games," she said. "I just happened to be open. I'm just so excited, I can't even speak right now."

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