A 7-2 win over Yale on Saturday wasn’t good enough for the women’s lacrosse team.
Despite crushing the Bulldogs (1-5, 0-2 Ivy) and extending their Ivy League win streak to 31, the Quakers were disappointed after the game.
Coach Karin Brower Corbett and junior attack Erin Brennan emphasized that their team’s “undisciplined” offense needs to improve.
Penn (6-0, 2-0) got off to a slow start, scoring just two goals in the first half.
Yale goaltender Whitney Quackenbush, who entered the game with a 10.55 goals against average, found a way to stop the Quakers. She had 13 saves, including eight in the second half.
“Our shooting was really off,” said Corbett, noting that her team kept shooting high and outside when only low shots could get by Quackenbush.
Brennan, however, was able to find the net, with a hat trick to score the game’s first three goals.
“She put the team on her back,” Corbett said.
Yale tied the game early in the second half, but Brennan’s third goal put the Quakers on top for good.
The junior, who said she was really “fired up” before the game, played against Quackenbush in high school and knew she had to shoot low if she wanted to score.
Sophomore Maddie Poplawski “came up huge on some draws,” Corbett said, and added two goals to the Quakers’ total.
Corbett acknowledged the strong defensive effort her team showed, forcing 11 turnovers and holding Yale to just 12 shots.
Regardless of the tough Penn defense, Corbett still stressed that the Quakers must perform better on offense.
“I think we’re capable of a lot more output than this,” she said. “I hope that we can fix this by Wednesday.”
The Red and Blue have especially struggled in the first half of games this season, never leading by more than two goals at the break.
“We haven’t been coming out as strong as we want to in the first half, then we have been slowly building up in the second half,” Brennan said.
The Quakers had extra motivation from the large crowd at Franklin Field, which consisted mostly of family members and Penn lacrosse alumni.
The team watched the alumni play earlier in the day and had an alumnus speak before the game.
“It’s nice to have our team understand the tradition of this lacrosse program,” Corbett said.
