The women’s lacrosse team knew that spring break would hardly be a breeze with two of its starting midfielders sidelined due to injuries.
Without the help of 2009 first team All-American Emma Spiro, the Quakers’ offense was no match for North Carolina’s second-half firepower in an 11-6 loss and barely slid by unranked Hofstra, 6-5, four days later.
But Penn returned to form Saturday at Franklin Field in the wind-driven rain and trounced Harvard, 16-6, to open Ivy League play.
“Emma’s a huge loss for us,” Penn coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “She’s not only our top defensive player, she’s a big scorer for us, a big draw control person for us, and she calms everybody.”
Last year, when the Quakers were at full strength, they demolished UNC, 11-2, at home. This year, the Tarheels took revenge in Chapel Hill, N.C., by controlling the ball and keeping Penn out of the attack.
Penn (4-1, 1-0 Ivy) trailed only 6-5 at the break but mustered only three shots after that, as UNC used a 13-7 advantage in draw controls and 27-14 advantage in ground balls to maintain possession.
Senior goalie Emily Szelest, who corralled 11 saves in the losing effort, said she hopes the two teams will meet again for a chance at revenge in the NCAA tournament.
“We need to be more ready for the quick cuts in the center of the eight, we need to be ready for the backdoors,” Szelest said. “They like to sheathe the ball a lot from behind, and we had some troubles staying on some cutters.”
Against a less athletic Hofstra attack Mar. 10, Penn’s defense hung tough to bail out its struggling offense. Both teams were sloppy with the ball, combining for 35 turnovers overall.
Penn took an early 3-1 lead but saw it slowly slip away in the second half. In the final 5:11, the Pride trailed 6-5 with possession for most of the remaining minutes. But Penn’s swarming defense closed out the victory, allowing only a single errant shot in that time.
“I think we proved to ourselves how cohesive we could be in those last 10 minutes,” Szelest said.
That momentum carried into Saturday’s Ivy opener against Harvard (2-2, 0-1), where Penn forced 15 turnovers in the 16-6 blowout. The game marked Penn’s 23rd consecutive Ancient Eight victory, a streak that began April 22, 2006.
In an effort to help the midfielders battle fatigue, Corbett moved junior Giulia Giordano back from her usual attack role against Harvard. If the ensuing offensive onslaught was any indicator, the strategy paid huge dividends.
Seven different Quakers scored at least one goal, senior Courtney Lubbe and freshman Maddie Poplawski each recorded hat tricks, and sophomore Erin Brennan recorded a career-high seven points.
“We kind of pride ourselves on having an offense where everyone can be a threat and not relying on just one or two people,” Brennan said.
Nevertheless, Penn’s attack will be diminished until Spiro can return from her ankle injury. She has been ruled out against Saint Joseph’s Wednesday, but her status will be reassessed before Saturday’s road matchup against Yale.
But with nearly two months until postseason play, Spiro will likely be in fine form by the time Penn has the opportunity for a rematch with the Tarheels in the NCAA tournament.
