Four weeks ago, the Quakers faced Duke as underdogs in a back-and forth-battle that ultimately led to the defeat of a strong Blue Devils squad.
The Blue Devils made sure that, on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, there would be no repeat performance.
Duke scored early and often; they opened up a 4-1 margin early in the first half and never relinquished the lead.
Coach Karin Brower Corbett saw her Quakers play a much different type of game than in the prior Duke matchup.
“[In the first meeting], we played with a lot of fight, we were tough, we took it to them, we drove really hard to create opportunities and we just didn’t do that today,” she said. “We didn’t go hard at them. We were waiting for them to make mistakes and that was a big difference.”
Keeping Penn close were junior goalie Emily Leitner and sophomore attack Meredith Cain. Leitner stopped a career-high nine shots while Cain deposited four into the opposing cage.
“They definitely came out hard,” Leitner said. “I was just glad I could keep my team in it. I wish I could have done it [for the whole game], but sometimes it doesn’t fall your way.”
For Cain, one of the best games in her young career came in this season ending loss.
“I think things just fell right for me… the other girls really set me up; I just finished the ball, they did most of the work,” she said.
The loss ends a mostly successful season for the Quakers (11-6), who were co-champions of the Ivy League but lost twice to Princeton and suffered an early exit from this year’s NCAA tournament, as well as the Ivy tournament last weekend.
It also marks the final game for Penn’s five seniors, Giulia Giordano Keely Langdon, Carolyn Pollard, Lily Posner and Bridget Waclawik, a group that won four Ivy League titles and played in the only NCAA national title game in Penn women’s lacrosse history.
Reflecting on the year, Cain had this to say: “We definitely have some regrets and I think we could have had some more wins but overall I think we had a successful season.”
For one of Penn’s most successful programs, being graded on a curve has become a reality. Though the Quakers won their fifth-consecutive Ivy title, it is the first time in five years that they shared the title. They also suffered their first conference loss in five years and failed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in the last five appearances.
“Winning a fifth Ivy League championship [in a row]; that’s not easy to do in this league,” Corbett said. “I’m very proud of the team for doing that. We showed at times that we can play with the best of them but we needed to be more consistent.”
