On the door of its brand new locker room, four words serve as a daily reminder of the women’s lacrosse team’s quest for its fifth consecutive Ivy League title:
‘The drive for five.’
“We definitely want to win the Ivy League championship, get to the Final Four and hopefully go to the national championship,” senior co-captain Giulia Giordano said.
The Quakers aren’t the only ones placing a lot of emphasis on their 2011 season, which opens Saturday against University City rival Drexel at Franklin Field — the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association has Penn ranked sixth in its national preseason poll.
The ranking was especially surprising, given that the Quakers lost offensive powerhouse Ali DeLuca to graduation. Last season, DeLuca was the program’s first Tewaaraton Award (national player of the year) finalist and holds both the school and Ivy League records with 76 points.
“We were surprised we were that high because usually we don’t get that recognition,” Giordano said.
But despite the exit of the eight-person Class of 2010, coach Karin Brower Corbett and the is optimistic about both the new and returning offensive talent. With the acquisition of former Columbia head coach Kerri Whitaker to the staff, the Quakers have adopted a fast-paced offensive strategy for this year.
“Most teams are used to us stopping, setting up a play, whereas this year it’s a lot of stop and go … keeping the defense on their toes,” Giordano said.
Corbett accredits this change to the increased depth of her midfield personnel — she will look to the quickly improving underclassmen to fill the departed seniors’ shoes.
“I think some of our sophomores have really stepped up, they’ve improved a ton and just trained really well,” Corbett said. “And [the freshmen] are playing with a lot of confidence.”
On the other side of the field, junior goaltender Emily Leitner will anchor the annually talented Penn defense. Already Leitner has proved herself a vocal and moral leader in the cage.
“She’s a lefty, which is always a threat against other teams. No one wants to shoot against a lefty goalie,” senior co-captain Carolyn Pollard said of the goaltender. Not to mention, “she’s loud.”
While the Quakers’ defensive strategies won’t change much, the squad will be faster and “a lot more aggressive,” according to Pollard.
All of these changes will surely be put to the test with Penn’s difficult schedule. Later in their season, the Quakers face the defending national champions and No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Northwestern and No. 3 North Carolina — all of which handed Penn its only losses last season.
“We’re excited to have those opportunities, especially with a young team where you get better as the season goes on,” Corbett said.
And in case the Quakers falter in the early goings, “We have a chance to pull off a big win later down the road.”
