Penn women's lacrosse claims top spot in Ivy League with comeback win over Dartmouth

Penn women’s lacrosse is running the league and it doesn't plan to stop any time soon. 

After a hard fought battle, the Quakers emerged victorious over Dartmouth, 13-11. The win puts Penn (9-2, 3-0 Ivy) in sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

Coach Karin Corbett responded positively about the game and was truly happy that her team was about to respond and come out with the win.

“I think we showed a lot of grit and a lot of fight. We definitely still need to play 60 minutes and Dartmouth is an athletic team that came to win,” Corbett said. “We did score the first two goals but we let them back in. But I’m still proud of their grit, fight, and determination.”

The Quakers started out strong, taking an early two goal lead on goals from midfielders senior Alex Condon and sophomore Erin Barry. But the Big Green (7-2, 3-1) responded in kind, scoring four of the next five goals.

The rest of the half was back and forth, but all told the Quakers entered halftime down 8-6.

Both teams traded goals at the start of the second half, until the score was 10-8 with about 20 minutes left. And that's when the Quakers, especially freshman Zoe Belodeau, turned it on.

The Red and Blue finished the game on a 5-1 run to walk away with a win and remain undefeated in the conference. Belodeau poured in three of her four goals during that stretch, including the game winner, and added an assist as well.

“Zoe came up with some key goals at the end. She struggled a little bit with shooting in the beginning but didn’t let it get her down and as a freshman that shows a lot of maturity. Caroline Cummings had 3 goals on the day with one taken back,” Corbett said. “Erin Barry also had a lot of guts in the game overall. Natalie Stefan played well defensively and brought the ball up with a ton of confidence,” explained Corbett.

According to Corbett, however, there are some areas that the team must focus on to be successful moving forward. 

“We lost a lot of the draws which caused a lot of turnovers so our defense gave us the chance to get the ball back. Now we just need to capitalize a little better on the attack side,” Corbett noted.

It was most definitely a team effort overall, with the defense backing up the offense when times got tough. With a strong support system to aid the offense in their struggles, the squad was able to fight their way through Dartmouth’s strong defense.

The Quakers now find themselves in a great position as they head into more Ivy League play. They sit at the top of the league with Yale, Cornell, and Columbia in a tie for fourth place. 

“We are in the driver’s seat in the league. We have to do our job and take each game one at a time. Dartmouth was also undefeated so we knew how much was on the line,” Corbett said. 

There is no better place to be. With eyes on Ivy League rings, the Quakers must continue to be the unstoppable and untouchable force that they are in the upcoming weeks.