W. Lax notebook | Versatile Spiro paces Penn

After watching junior Emma Spiro play, it's no surprise that she's tied for second on the Penn women's lacrosse team with 22 goals scored in 2009. What comes as a surprise is where Spiro plays - the midfield.

How is it that a midfielder is outscoring most of the attackers on the team?

According to her teammates, Spiro has versatile talents.

"Emma's really good. I think a big reason is because she's a really consistent player, so she's really good no matter what the situation is, doing what we need of her," senior attack Becca Edwards said.

Spiro trails only junior Ali DeLuca in goals scored, though she is tied with junior Courtney Lubbe. She also holds the third most points on the team with 25 - she's distributed three assists to go with her 22 goals. Lubbe and DeLuca take the first and second spots with 34 and 33 points, respectively.

The Wellesley, Mass., native has developed consistently throughout her career at Penn to become an increasingly stronger scoring force. In her freshman year, Spiro only scored one goal, but by the end of her sophomore year she had tallied another 18 goals for the Quakers.

Coach Karin Brower says Spiro's real strength comes from her ability to transition between offense and defense and move across the whole field -- a natural responsibility for a midfielder.

"She plays both attack and 'D,'" Brower said. "She goes both ways. She's our fastest matchup defender-midfielder, so she's always on their best players at the top."

Self defense. If the Quakers have a trademark, it's their defense.

Year after year, their success has been attributed to their ability to thwart the competition's attack, and this year is no different.

Even though its goals against average increased after a tough fight against Dartmouth Saturday, the team still relies on the defense as the core of the team.

"I think it really helps us to be confident with our defense, so in a close game like [against Dartmouth], we're not worried that they're going to score on us because our defense is really strong," senior defender Hilary Renna said.

According to Renna, the defense is led by junior goalkeeper Emily Szelest, who has 45 saves this season.

Even though the Quakers are getting on the scoreboard more this year, Brower still stresses the importance of defense in winning games.

"I think our offense has scored more goals than we have in the past. You look at a game like [Dartmouth] when our shots weren't falling, and if you don't have a good defense, you're going to lose a game like that," Brower said. "But our defense is solid, and therefore their attack is struggling to put the ball in the net. We came up with a lot of stops and gave our attack more and more chances, and that's what we need to do. That's really the staple of our team."

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