Bunting flings in late winner

The weather wasn’t ideal — nor was the game — but the No. 8 women’s lacrosse team came out with a win.

Despite the torrential downpour at Franklin Field, the Quaker’s lacrosse team managed to escape with a 10-9 victory over No. 16 Dartmouth Saturday.

Penn remains undefeated in the Ancient Eight and extended its Ivy League winning streak to 34 games — the longest in-conference streak in the country and third-longest in NCAA history.

“It’s definitely what we wanted coming into this game, and we knew Dartmouth would be one of our toughest opponents the entire season, not just in the Ivy League,” junior goaltender Emily Leitner told Penn Athletics.

Leitner, also a Daily Pennsylvanian videographer, was a huge factor for Penn (9-3, 5-0 Ivy) defensively. The goalie tied her career-high of nine saves, caused a turnover and led the team with six ground balls.

“A lot of the time the ground ball was right in front of the crease,” Leitner said. “So I was like, ‘I’m gonna go get that.’ I just wanted to have a better game outside of the crease than I’ve been having.”

Leitner’s energy and aggression was transferred to the attack as well. Knowing Leitner and the Penn defense had her back, sophomore midfielder Meredith Cain went to work, netting three goals.

“If someone was driving hard to goal, it was easy to work off of them and just play off each other,” Cain said. “Everyone was looking for their cutters and the shots.”

Even with Leitner and Cain’s stellar play, the win didn’t come easy.

The Quakers found themselves in a tight spot right off the bat. Dartmouth’s Sarah Plumb struck first and netted her first of three goals within the first five minutes. With offensive experience on their side, the Big Green (8-3, 4-1) took a 4-1 lead midway through the first half.

From there, Penn’s well-rounded offense worked to tie the game at five. But with four seconds left in the half, Dartmouth junior Sarah Parks found the cage to put the Big Green up by one at the start of the half.

“I think that again we were still plagued a little bit by sloppiness and back checks,” coach Karin Brower Corbett told Penn Athletics. “But we showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight, and our defense came up with some big stops for us and we were able to score when we needed to.”

After halftime, the Quakers took matters into their own hands. Cain and junior co-captain Erin Brennan scored three unanswered goals to put Penn ahead, 8-6. The Quakers held onto the lead until Dartmouth’s junior midfield Kirsten Goldberg found the back of the net to tie the game at nine with four minutes remaining.

But Penn’s sophomore attack Caroline Bunting scored the go-ahead goal less than a minute later to ice the victory.

“Obviously we have two big games left in the league,” Corbett said. “But I’ve always said that the Ivy League championship goes through Dartmouth and it goes through Princeton.

“So one down and one to go.”

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