The Penn women's lacrosse team came into Spring Break hoping to prove they were as good as its upset of No. 9 James Madison made the Quakers out to be.
And with a split with Lafayette and Yale, the Quakers showed they belong with the nation's elite.
The first match of the week pitted No. 19 Penn against Lafayette on Friday, March 8.
While the Leopards were unranked, the Quakers had fallen to Lafayette last year -- Penn lost, 9-6, on March 27, 2001 -- and came in with something prove.
With Penn senior quad-captain Jenny Hartman leading the way with four goals and an assist, the Quakers easily disposed of Lafayette, 14-5.
Junior midfielder Crissy Book also got into the scoring with three goals and junior Kate Murray increased her goal total on the year to eight by netting a pair.
Freshman midfielder Katie Spofford earned the first collegiate points of her career by scoring two goals against the Leopards.
Coming off a strong victory over Lafayette and with a week of preparation, Penn -- having moved up the rankings to No. 16 -- traveled to New Haven, Conn. to take on No. 14 Yale, in the Red and Blue's first Ivy League game of the season.
Penn came into the game against its conference rivals with a loss to avenge.
Last year Penn received a 10-2 drubbing from the Elis.
"We were psyched going into the Yale game after last year," Murray said. "We were confident too after being able to play our game against Lafayette."
But Penn failed to play its game in the opening minutes against the Elis and found itself trailing 13-3 at halftime.
Yale sophomore, Miles Whitman, scored six goals for the Elis, five of which came in the opening 30 minutes.
"We dug ourselves too much of a hole in the first half," said Murray, who netted two goals against Yale.
The Quakers sprung to life in the early stages of the second half, netting the first four goals.
Down 13-7, the Red and Blue had a chance to rally. But Yale proved to be too much, as the Elis outscored Penn down the stretch, 4-3, pulling away for a 17-10 win.
The Quakers (2-1) will look to earn their third win of the year when they take on Philly rival, Temple, on Wednesday afternoon at Franklin Field.
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