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#12 Women's Lacrosse Hosts Vanderbilt Credit: Pat Goodridge , Pat Goodridge

What do you do when you’re the biggest fish in your pond? Find a bigger pond.

That’s exactly what the No. 14 Quakers did on Wednesday when they travelled south to take on No. 1 Maryland in College Park. Before the road match up, Penn (6-0) reigned atop the Ivy League with Princeton as one of two undefeated squads. That six-game winning streak was stymied by the Terps’ explosive offense, which eventually took down Penn, 12-7.

Saying that Maryland was dominant is an understatement. The home team won 16 of the game’s 21 draws and outshot the Quakers 36-13. “We couldn’t bring the ball out and that was a shame because we didn’t really have time for scoring when we went down on attack,” coach Karin Corbett said.

After the first tip off, which resulted in a rapid-fire goal from senior attack Tory Bensen, it looked like Penn’s offense would be able to hang with the formidable Terps. The Quakers kept the score within one goal for the first thirteen minutes of play until Maryland began to pull away. Before long, the Big Ten squad had netted five goals, bringing the score to 5-2 at the half.

However, simply focusing on Maryland’s dominance does not tell the whole story. For what Penn lacked in possession time - Corbett estimated that her squad was on defense for five-sixths of regulation - it made up for in efficiency. In the second half, the Red and Blue found the back of the net in five of their seven attempts.

“I think that if we had more possessions it would have been a closer game,” Corbett said.

That being said, a major reason why the score remained as close as it did was Penn’s stalwart defense. Senior goalie Lucy Ferguson in particular was phenomenal in the net for the Quakers, finishing the night with 15 saves - 11 of which came in the first half alone.

“I think this was the best game of the season for her,” Corbett said.

No doubt, Ferguson got by with a little help from her friends in the backfield. The Quakers’ defensive eight battled through 60 exhausting minutes of play against one of the nation’s most productive offensive duos in freshman Megan Whittle and junior Taylor Cummings, who combine for 51 goals this season. Each of the two Terps recorded a hat trick against Penn, with the freshman scoring four and the junior netting three.

While the final score was not in the Quakers’ favor, Corbett believes her team proved themselves on Wednesday - both to its upcoming Ivy opponents and to the rest of the nation.

“To play defense for as long as we did against a top scoring Maryland team I think it shows that we have one of the best defenses in the country,” she said.

Despite Wednesday’s loss, the Quakers are poised to bounce back relatively quickly this weekend. In the midst of a stretch in which they play four of its five games at home, Penn will host Dartmouth at Franklin Field on Saturday.

Unlike the Red and Blue’s stout defense, the Big Green (0-5) have struggled to contain their opponents throughout the first month of the season. Dartmouth has are giving up an average of 14.8 scores per contest and are coming off a 19-11 loss to Vermont in Hanover on Wednesday.

That could spell danger for the Big Green. The Quakers’ potent offense has already scored more than 12 goals in four of its seven games in 2015 after accomplishing that feat only twice last season.

“We’re putting this loss behind us and looking ahead to Dartmouth,” Corbett said. “Dartmouth is always a strong team and I think that in Ivy League play anything can happen."

Last season, then-ninth-ranked Penn had no trouble dispatching of Dartmouth in a 10-6 victory. To add to the Red and Blue’s confidence heading into Saturday’s game, the Quakers have lost to the Big Green only twice in their past 11 matches.

“If we can play the way we played [against Maryland], we’ll be fine,” Corbett said. “But we have to play Dartmouth like we’re playing Maryland, mentally coming in with that focus.”

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