Wait, they lost?

 

For the first time since 2006, the women's lacrosse team lost at home.  It was a shocking 8-6 loss to No. 13 Stanford that wasn't as close as the score indicates. It was also the first time since 2006 that the team lost back-to-back games, since last week the No. 3 Quakers lost to Northwestern, 11-9. In fact, since the start of the 2007 season Penn has gone undefeated -- except for games against Stanford and Northwestern, who are a combined 6-1 against Penn in that span.

For Stanford, it was a big win. In fact, Stanford Athletics claims its the biggest win in the 15-year history of the varsity program. That's because Stanford had been on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. Despite their  No. 13 ranking, the Cardinal had placed only 18th in RPI entering this week, and only 16 teams make the NCAA Tournament. But this win might've clinched a spot in the tournament bracket, announced at 10 p.m. tonight.

I didn't cover today's game for the DP, but I was there with the Penn Band (so I guess take these observations with a measure of salt since technically I wasn't striving for objectivity).

Looking at the box score, the big numbers that jump out are shots in the second half and draw controls. Penn's second half was one of the worst I've seen, with the 8-0 shutout in the first half against Northwestern in the 2007 Final Four as the worst. True, it was only 2-2, but it was a very frustrating half for the Quakers. Penn gave up two goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. Yet the Red and Blue pretty much dominated time of possession in the next 20 minutes.

However, of their 18 total shots that half, only two went in. Why? Well first off, they did very poorly on free position shots. The team only shot 1-for-6 in the half from eight meters out, and that lone goal occurred with 10 seconds remaining. Many of the free position shots, as well other shots, were too low, easily savable by Stanford goalkeeper Annie Read who had 11 saves.

And of course, if you only win four of 16 draw controls, including just one in the second half, you're not going to win, plain and simple.

After the jump, I have some quotes courtesy of the DP reporter who did cover the match, Jennifer Scuteri, as well as some quotes from the Stanford coach and some players via Stanford Athletics.
Penn Junior Midfield Emma Spiro:
On why the team lost: "We had some bad one-on-one defense. Our slides just weren’t ready in the beginning."
On the team's expectations coming in: "We were expecting to win and we were definitely the better team."
On coming back: "When you are down four goals its hard to come back."
On what went right: "We actually did cause a few turnovers in the midfield ... maybe that was one of the highlights of the game."
Penn Junior Midfield Ali DeLuca:
On why Penn couldn't score: "We were on defense for a good ten minutes, and they we’d get down and we'd just rush the shot. It’s unfortunate because we had a lot of time on the clock to move the ball."
On why the shots weren't going in: "A lot of the shots were going low, and that was something we needed to fix and nobody was really fixing it. Mentally, we should have been more on top of our game."
On the psychological reasons for the loss: "Maybe our minds were in it and our hearts weren’t in it. That was definitely a big part of the game and a big factor in why we lost."
On how the loss relates to the NCAA Tournament which will start next Sunday: "The Tournament is going to make our true colors show and make our true character come out. We just have to work that much harder in the Tournament."
Penn coach Karin Brower:
On overconfidence: The Cardinal "deserve this win. We have to show up and we didn’t show up on either end of the field today. You can never think that you can just show up and beat a team and that’s what it looked like today."

On Stanford's motivation: "They had a lot on the line. I think they believed that if they beat us they would get into the Tournament. They had more to play for and they showed that today."

Stanford coach Amy Bokker:

On her team's tournament chances: "I told the players after the game, we can't say with 100 percent certainty that we're in, but it was a quality win for us and I hope the committee recognizes that. I think we have a really good chance."

On coming out strong: "We wanted to put it all on the line and have no excuses."

On not letting Penn come back: "We wanted to keep attacking," Bokker said. "Especially in beginning of the second half, we had to do what we had done [in the first half] to be in the position we were in."

Stanford Senior Midfield Jamie Nesbitt who had one goal:

On Stanford's attitude coming in: "There was a lot of emotion out there. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that we were going to pull it off."

On Read's performance: "Annie Read was amazing. She gave the defense confidence. That was a huge emotional lift."

On how the game affect's the Cardinal's NCAA chances: "We took care of what we needed to do on the field."

Read, who is just a sophomore:

On how the team was able to win: "It was just a matter of believing in ourselves. It was a collective group effort, working together on both ends."

On whether Stanford should make the tournament: "Our record shows we deserve to be there."

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