Image

Quakers host inaugural Ivy tourney

By , , and 04/28/10 9:00pm

Although the Penn women’s lacrosse team will host the inaugural Ivy League Tournament at Franklin Field this weekend, the No. 6 Quakers have little to gain and a lot to lose after amassing a perfect conference record.

According to coach Karin Brower Corbett, a loss in the first round against middling Princeton (6-9, 4-3 Ivy) could jeopardize Penn’s chances at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and would almost certainly ruin Penn’s seeding — not to mention snap an incredible 29-game conference winning streak.

“Everyone keeps saying that we didn’t lose an Ivy game in our careers,” senior attack Megan Smith said. “But we have two more, and I think we’re really focused, and we’re not going to let that slip away.”

The first challenge to that achievement will come tomorrow, when Penn (12-3, 7-0) faces fourth-seeded Princeton.

Though the Tigers needed an 11-10 overtime upset over No. 7 Dartmouth (10-3, 5-2) to even reach the tournament, Princeton will be especially motivated by the knowledge that a loss this weekend will certainly end their season.

“Everything is in their corner with everything resting on it, and it’s do-or-die for them. But I do believe it’s do-or-die for us, [considering] their record,” Corbett said. “So there’s a lot on the line, and it’s going to be the team that brings it and wants it more.”

In Penn’s regular-season matchup with Princeton, Smith netted a hat trick in a 12-5 victory. Although Corbett was happy with the team’s offensive effort in that game, she did not think the team did a good job defensively, especially against Princeton junior attack Lizzy Drumm.

While the team plans to focus on tightening up the defense in the rematch, Corbett cautioned that it is always more difficult to defeat the same team twice in one season.

“They’re going to have an advantage, seeing how we played, and they … might be able to change their gameplan,” Smith said. “But I think also what’s good for us is we got it done last week, and we have that confidence now that we can do it again.”

If the Quakers win in the first round, they will advance Sunday to take on the winner of tomorrow’s first-round matchup between second-seeded Dartmouth and third-seeded Cornell (5-8, 4-3).

The Big Green should be heavy favorites in that game after defeating the Big Red, 9-6, in their first meeting on April 10.

Regardless, the Quakers should have their way with either opponent, as they defeated Dartmouth by the same 9-6 margin and handled Cornell, 15-6, last month.

Although this year’s tournament has more potential to hurt than to help Penn, Corbett said that it is still beneficial for the League long-term. The tournament layout will boost team’s strength of schedule and could therefore, increase the number of NCAA tournament bids for Ivy programs.

But for Smith, the tournament holds a different meaning.

“I think a lot of times our program, no matter how much we win, people still doubt us,” she said. “It’s awesome that we won the league outright, but this [tournament] is just another chance to prove that we did deserve to win.”