Big 'W' for W. Lax, no thanks to the defense

Rachel Manson and Melissa Lehman may have sore shoulders after yesterday's game against Harvard. Despite a lack of cohesion from the Penn defense, the two attackers carried the Quakers to a 14-10 victory.

"Our defense was very undisciplined today," head coach Karin Brower said. "They did not play good one-on-one defense, they didn't help on their key players who were very good one-on-one challengers."

But Brower had a different assessment of her offense. After struggling in past games to keep possession and set the tempo, the front-men finally clicked.

The offense worked well as a team, with eight different players contributing to the 14-goal output. Manson and Lehman were particularly impressive, tallying seven and four points, respectively.

Lehman refused to take credit for her individual success.

"We were really trying to be patient so whoever ended up being open [would score]," she said.

Penn's scoring efforts were more surprising given the setup of the opposing defense. Led by new head coach Lisa Miller, Harvard's defenders played a zone that was unfamiliar to the Quakers.

"Our attack did a really nice job playing against a defense that we've never seen or were prepared for," Brower said. "I'm very happy that they finished and were smart on being patient and not forcing the ball in."

In fact, the Quakers may have found the back of the net more often had they not been limited by their time of possession. The Crimson bested the Red and Blue on draw controls, 16-10, keeping the ball out of the sticks of the Penn attackers.

"When we had the ball, we had good opportunities," Manson said. "The difference was just that we lost a lot of draw controls so we didn't get that many opportunities."

These short-comings were particularly noticeable at the start of the game. As a result of not getting the ball to the offense, scoring went back and forth for the first 22 minutes, until the teams were tied at five.

But Penn tallied three more to end the first half, and with some cushioning and the momentum in its favor, there was no looking back.

"When you go in [to the second half], you just have a little bit extra confidence," Lehman said. "I think we've also been doing a good job the past few games of coming out and building on that right away."

Harvard scored three quick goals to end the game, putting an exclamation point on the defense's poor performance.

"That was tough," Manson said. "Definitely frustrating because we know we should have won by more than four goals. Sometimes you have an off day. It happens."

Yet it was the second such off day in a row for the Quakers, who nearly blew a late six-goal lead to Johns Hopkins last week.

Brower will focus on her defense in the four days leading up to Penn's battle with Dartmouth. So far, she has not decided on her backfield lineup.

"We have good people out there, but we have to have the seven that work together the best," Brower said.

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