Penn women's lacrosse drops first Ivy contest

Two teams. Two undefeated records. One winner.

Those were the stakes for Penn in its most highly anticipated game of the season against Princeton at Franklin Field on Wednesday night. And as the light above the stadium’s brick façade faded, so too did the Quakers’ energy, as the hopes of a perfect Ivy season and an outright ninth-consecutive Ancient Eight crown slid out of reach.

After 60 minutes of intense play, Penn fell 9-7 to the Tigers.

“A lot of our underclassmen haven’t experienced that Ivy loss necessarily,” senior captain Tory Bensen said. “So we can’t dwell on it. We don’t have time to dwell on it.”

Wednesday’s loss does not mean that a ninth Ivy title is out of reach for the Quakers. However, their destiny is now out of their hands.

In order for Penn (10-3, 4-1 Ivy) to continue its streak, Princeton (10-3, 5-0) must lose to either Brown or Columbia and the Red and Blue must finish its season in perfect form against Yale and Cornell. Crazier things have happened, but there are no longer any guarantees.

The Tigers won the game’s opening faceoff and did not surrender control of the ball until nearly 10 minutes into the first half, scoring two goals along the way.

Despite the intense pressure from Princeton’s attack, Penn’s defense did not waver. Senior defender Meg Markham was particularly forceful, shutting down the Tigers’ leading scorer, Olivia Hompe.

“Defensively I think our first stance was great,” coach Karin Corbett said.

The tide finally turned for Penn when junior midfielder Lely DeSimone knocked free a ground ball and carried it up the field, marking the Quakers’ first romp into Princeton’s fan of the contest.

Before long, Penn was on the board, with an unassisted goal by Bensen in the 11th minute. DeSimone quickly followed suit, scoring Penn’s second goal of the game off of a free position shot to tie the score at two in the 12th minute.

Penn’s third goal came just a minute and a half later unassisted down the stretch from junior attack Nina Corcoran.

“Those first three goals in the game — we had just really put a ton of momentum on our side,” Bensen said.

For the remainder of the half, the score inched upwards, with Penn answering each additional Princeton goal. With just 12 seconds remaining in the half, sophomore midfielder Emily Rogers-Healion gave Penn the advantage 5-4.

In the second half, the Tigers came out storming, dominating possession and netting five goals on just six shots.

“Defensively, I was disappointed,” Corbett said. “Princeton is a good team and they have some great players and we knew what they were gonna do and our kids were very undisciplined.”

In the waning minutes of the second half, Princeton began to pull away with two unanswered goals from Stephanie Paloscio and Anya Gersoff. Then, with just seven minutes left in regular play, Bensen added a little magic of her own, with her second unassisted goal of the night and 40th of the season.

But a win was not in the cards for the Quakers, as two of their late-game shots hit the post and a third by Bensen in the last minute was saved by Princeton goalkeeper Ellie DeGarmo.

“It was like we couldn’t catch a break,” Corbett said. “Every time [the ball] hit something, it went right back to their sticks.”

Given how closely matched the two teams were, the result came down to the details. And Penn just wasn’t as clean as their opponent.

“The 50-50 balls they wanted. They were better than us on that tonight,” Corbett said. “They deserved the win.”

Unfortunately for the Quakers, there is no rest for the weary. Penn is back in Ivy action this weekend with a matchup against Yale on Saturday.

“We need to play with a lot more discipline in the next two games if we want to win,” Bensen said.

If Penn can pull out two victories, it will be on track to get the second seed in the Ivy Championship tournament and well on its way to earning redemption against Princeton in what will likely be the final game.

“We’ve got to play well and be able to get the second seed in the tournament,” Corbett said.

So it appears that the stakes for the Quakers are just about as high as when Penn first walked onto Franklin Field on Wednesday with the clock still at 60:00.

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