Dartmouth trips up Penn women's lacrosse on the road, 10-9

No matter the team, it is commonplace to worry about the potential for trap games. Regardless of the opponent’s record, an Ivy League contest is a battle with a rival and wins never come easy. Penn women’s lacrosse fell into a trap against Dartmouth, falling, 10-9, in a gut-wrenching loss.

The No. 14 Quakers (6-3, 1-1 Ivy) have now lost two straight after winning their previous five matches. In Sunday’s contest, Penn started quickly, building a 6-4 lead by the end of the first half. However, coach Karin Corbett was not satisfied with her team’s play in the opening frame.

“I know that we were ahead at halftime but I don’t feel that it was a great first half. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half,” Corbett said. “We were ahead, but I don’t think we played that well in the first half.”

The second half saw a collapse from the Red and Blue. The Big Green (5-3, 1-1) came roaring back to the tune of six unanswered goals and turned the game into a 10-6 outing with just 15 minutes left.

The Quakers would break their 22-minute scoring drought when junior midfielder Lauren D’Amore netted her second goal of the season with just under 10 minutes left to play. The team would go onto scoring two more goals to bring the deficit to one, but could not equalize the score in the game’s waning minutes, despite a handful of chances.

“We had some turnovers in transition. I don’t think we made very good decisions on the attacking side. We weren’t moving the ball that well. We weren’t finding the open player,” Corbett said. “It wasn’t a great day for us.”

With this loss, the Quakers now face an uphill battle to reclaim the Ivy League championship after falling short in 2015. They still control their own destiny, but performances like Sunday’s will not bring the title to the Red and Blue.

“I thought Dartmouth came out to win this game,” Corbett said. “They played with a lot of heart and a lot of fight and they outfought us today.”

The Quakers have a two-week break before continuing Ivy play, but they will also face a ranked Northwestern squad that was just below the Red and Blue at No. 15 last week. It will now be up to the team to break out of its funk before the Ivy schedule resumes against Columbia. Corbett recognizes the importance of the next two weeks as it pertains to the Quakers’ Ivy chances.

“They’re huge. This was a big test for us today and we have to find a way to fight more on ground balls and draw controls and really play with a lot of confidence and a lot of grit and a lot of fight and a lot of heart. I don’t think we did that today and we need to find that in the next couple weeks.”

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