Penn women's lacrosse's Senior Day win comes down to the wire

For Penn women’s lacrosse, Sunday was a day of lasts.

The home game against Cornell was the last time that the Class of 2015 stepped onto Franklin Field for the Red and Blue during the regular season, and the win was earned in last-minute fashion thanks to some late game heroics.

In what was a great statement game, the Quakers (12-3, 6-1 Ivy) were able to fend off the Big Red (9-6, 4-3) and cap off their regular season with a 10-9 win.

After letting up two quick goals from Cornell, the Quakers went on a 5-1 run and carried forward a comfortable 6-3 lead. The Big Red then came rushing back, eventually tying the game at six apiece. With just 20 minutes left in the match, both teams attacked hard and traded goals until only three minutes remained.

Throughout the second half, Penn had great control in the zone, but could not find a viable scoring opportunity. Coach Karin Corbett decided to call a timeout in an attempt to rally her troops.

Clearly something clicked; just seconds after stepping back onto the field, senior attack Tory Bensen drove hard to the net, spun and notched what would ultimately be the game-winning goal.

“That goal was the product of great ball movement. Our attackers worked it high, we worked it low, we kicked it low,” Bensen said. “That was a full seven-man effort to get in the open down there. That was a full team effort to get that goal.”

Over the last two minutes, there were numerous points when Cornell looked like it was going to net the equalizer, but Penn fought hard and eventually came out on top.

“I think it was an okay game for us,” Corbett said. “We came through in the end, but we gave up too many shots defensively. We turned the ball over in transition. It wasn’t a great game, but at least we pulled it out.”

Sunday’s tilt marks the last time this team, under its current makeup, will ever play a game at Franklin Field. In a timely tribute to the graduating class, Corbett started all 10 senior team members against the Big Red. Corbett thinks that their performance spoke wonders about the team.

“They’re not a team that’s going to give up.” Corbett said. “They showed that they wanted to win their last game together on this field, and that was very important for the 10 seniors.”

In addition to Bensen’s three-goal game — which put her in second on Penn women’s lacrosse all-time goal scoring leaders with 129 career points — senior midfielder Lindsey Smith also scored a goal.

The Quakers will travel to Princeton on Friday where they will face Cornell in a rematch of this weekend’s Ivy regular season finale. That is not going to be stress-free, even after the Quakers won the first matchup.

“It’s hard. It’s really hard,” Corbett said. “I think we both played a tough game today, and now we have to think about what they’re going to do differently and what we’re going to do differently.”

Even though the game means little in terms of standing, as Penn was set to play Cornell regardless of Sunday’s result, the importance of the win should not be understated.

“We have a lot to work on this week,” Bensen said. “They’re a very strong team and they’re going to come out even stronger on Friday.”

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.