Sports Update | W. Lax hunts down Stags

Updated May 10 5:35 p.m.

Despite a win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Penn women's lacrosse team is not satisfied.

Despite beating Fairfield, 10-8, at Drexel's Vidas Field, the No. 4 Quakers will look to improve on their first game of the extended season.

"I'm clearly glad that we came away with a win, but we need to adjust our play," coach Karin Brower said. "I think that on attack, we were really stagnant today. We weren't crisp in our ball movement all over the field, and I think that's uncharacteristic of us."

Even though the Quakers (14-2) will advance in the tournament, Fairfield (17-3) seemed happier than their competitors.

"This is a huge stepping stone for us because . . . we are the only team in the tournament not to have made it before, and I think we showed what we can do as a lacrosse team," Fairfield senior goalkeeper Lauren Chatnik said.

Chatnick held her own in the cage, saving 11 out of 21 shots on goal.

Still, the Red and Blue were able to slide 10 goals past the Stags's defense. Penn started the scoring with a goal from junior Ali DeLuca, assisted by freshman Erin Brennan at three minutes into the game. DeLuca went on to score another goal at the end of the first half, and Brennan scored two of her own.

After a the score was tied 2-2 -- with goals from junior Emma Spiro, Fairfield senior Rebecca White, and Fairfield sophomore Kristen Coleman -- Penn stayed ahead for the rest of the game.

Despite Penn's lead, the Stags put up a fight, especially White and sophomore Brittany Bare, who scored three and two goals, respectively.

"I think we definitely could've done a better job on [White and Bare]," Spiro said.

"We switched half way through the game and tried to force them more inside because ... they take a lot of non-angle shots, which is not something we see often."

The Quakers had difficulty defending eight-meter shots, and the Stags capitalized on this weakness at the end of the game, putting in two goals in the last three minutes of play.

"We didn't play smart lacrosse," Spiro said.

In the beginning of the game, the Quakers were coming away with most of the draws, but towards the end, Fairfield started stealing possession off the draw. Each team had 10 draw controls, but Brennan noted that Spiro was able to hold the team together.

"We were really struggling to get the draws at the end," Brennan said. "There were a lot of 50-50 balls, so I think it's really important that Emma was able to hold it and settle us down for a little while."

Besides Spiro, who put two away for the Quakers, senior Becca Edwards also scored two goals.

The Red and Blue attribute their shortcomings today to their past two losses against Northwestern and Stanford.

"Two losses that's something that we don't usually do and something that's not in our nature for the past few years," DeLuca said. "I think today we didn't have our best game. We started off a little slow, and I don't know why that was."

Looking forward, DuLuca expects her team to improve as they prepare to enter the quarterfinals against No. 5 Duke, who won 15-13 over Virginia in the first round.

"As we get into the tournament, we keep working off our mistakes and keep learning from what we've done" DeLuca said. "When we get to the ACC teams, and we start to progress further into the tournament, that's when our true colors really shine. We play the best when we're the underdog; we play our best when we rise up to big games."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.