One down, one to go.
The No. 16 Penn women’s lacrosse team took care of business at Franklin Field Friday night, handling Cornell, 10-5, to advance to the Ivy League Tournament final for the second straight season.
The Quakers had already beaten Cornell in the regular season, a 12-11 overtime thriller at home on March 24.
But Penn eliminated any potential drama early on in the grudge match thanks to a first-half hat trick from senior midfield Meredith Cain, giving her a team-high 27 on the season.
“Everybody was doing a really good job of creating on their doubles … looking to move the ball quickly,” Cain said. “I happened to be able to slip in there and people were able to feed to me.”
Penn Coach Karin Brower-Corbett’s squad also enjoyed a hat trick from junior midfield Shannon Mangini, who scored the gamewinner in the last matchup with the Big Red.
Penn’s top-ranked defense among Ivies was in top form as well, allowing just 10 shots in the first half, shutting Cornell out in free-position goals.
”I think it really came down to our offense not executing as well as we’d like to,” Cornell coach Jenny Graap said.
Cornell kicked off the scoring with a goal 2:23 in, but a free position goal from Cain tied the affair at the 22:47 mark of the first half. Junior midfield Tory Bensen notched her 22nd goal of the season to give Penn the lead at the 17:25 mark, coming out from behind the net to score at point-blank range as the Quakers began spending most of their time in Big Red territory.
After Cornell junior attack Rachel Moody capped off a long Cornell possession with her 19th goal of the year, Cain responded with two goals 33 seconds apart to give the Quakers a 5-2 advantage and separation they would never lose again.
The Big Red entered Friday No. 1 in the Ancient Eight in goals and points per game as well as shot percentage, but the visitors never found their groove, often struggling to advance out of their own end.
“I did think Penn was energetic and fast in their ride,” Graap said. “In the first half they trapped [Cornell sophomore midfield] Claire McManus in a double team and got a turnover there. Just a few minutes later they tracked down one of our fastest midfielders, [junior Amanda] D’Amico, and they were able to get a stick check from behind. So clearly that’s great effort from the Penn unit, in their ride.”
Penn will face Dartmouth at noon on Sunday at Franklin Field to try to win its first Ivy Tournament title since the 2009-10 season, despite winning the Ivy regular season crown each of the last seven years.
[An Ivy tourney title] would definitely be icing on the cake,” Cain said. “Just because we’ve had such a great season in the Ivies, and also because we haven’t been able to take home the tournament title since freshman year. Being a senior it’d be really great to bring that home too.“
“Dartmouth has a faceguard typically, they send doubles really early,” Brower-Corbett said. “I think if we can create a lot of chaos like we did tonight with everybody just going hard and moving the ball quickly … I think will be fine with them.
“Last time we played it was an extremely physical battle on both ends and we gotta fight.”
