W. Lax | Black and Blue Jays?

The Blue Jays know how to put up a fight.

So as the No. 2 Penn women's lacrosse team enters its ninth game of the season against unranked Johns Hopkins, they expect to hear the foul whistle a lot.

"They're very physical so we're going to have to be able to handle that," coach Karin Brower said.

The Quakers (8-0, 3-0 Ivy) will play Hopkins (4-6) in Baltimore tonight at 7.

In the Quakers' last game at Columbia Friday- their eighth straight win to open the season - the referees were strict about calling fouls.

"We need to play clean and do a better job than we did against Columbia in understanding how the refs are calling a game," Brower said. "If they're calling it really tight, we need to adjust how we play and not put them on the line."

But Penn does not want to sacrifice offensive intensity just to avoid the whistle.

"Conversely, I think when we go to goal, we're going to have to be able to go in hard and whatever they give us not succumb to the pressure," Brower said.

Hopkins poses a threat for the undefeated Quakers, especially because of the Blue Jays' strong traps and frequent substitutions. Penn's gameplan is to move the ball down the field quickly and keep an eye on the opposition's substitution box.

Freshmen attack Candace Rossi and midfield Colleen McCaffrey are just two of the Blue Jays that Brower wants her team to keep a special eye out for.

"Those are two of their bigger players," she said, "but they have a lot of different kids scoring, so they're pretty balanced."

After last year's game at Franklin Field - in which Penn held on to secure a 9-8 win after leading 6-2 at halftime - the Quakers are focused on maintaining their lead against Hopkins this time around.

"Last year when we played them, they came back after we had a lead, and we were lucky that the time had run out," sophomore Giulia Giordano said. "So we're planning on playing a full 60 minutes of our best game and not giving up at ant point."

The Red and Blue have added a new play set for this game, according to Giordano.

"I think we're trying to get comfortable with that," Giordano said.

The Quakers may be perfect so far this season, but they won't let the streak affect their play. Instead, Penn will be cautious not to underestimate the Blue Jays.

"The target's on our back . and this would make their season to beat us," Brower said. "It's an opportunity for them to play a ranked team and move up the standings, so that always excites teams to come and play us."

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