Miscues on Lake Michigan

It wasn’t Northwestern that beat Penn in Sunday’s match-up of two nationally ranked lacrosse programs. With 14 total turnovers — many of which were unforced errors — the Quakers beat themselves at their own game.

“We just hurt ourselves on unforced errors,” coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “Not them taking the ball away from us but us being kind of lackadaisical or unfocused in our passes and our catches.”

After yesterday’s 14-10 loss, the No. 8 Quakers — who broke Northwestern’s 35-game winning streak in 2008 — are now 2-9 all time against the undefeated No. 2 Wildcats.

But despite her team’s woeful unforced errors, Corbett was pleased with the squad’s showing on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

“Our offense played really well, and our defense was gelling at times. I think we just hurt ourselves on unforced errors,” she said. “I was really proud of them with how much heart and fight they had.”

In the first nine minutes of play, the Wildcats (12-0) scored four unanswered goals, which Penn (8-3, 4-0 Ivy) finally countered with a three-goal scoring spree of its own. Sophomore midfield Maddie Poplawski and senior attack Bridget Waclawik scored to put the Quakers within one midway through the first half.

But it was junior attack Erin Brennan that took matters into her own hands after halftime. With her squad trailing, 7-3, Brennan netted three unanswered goals in the first six minutes of the second half.

“She’s been putting the team on her shoulders, and she has some successful plays in the midfield and just was taking it to the net and drawing some doubles. She just played great,” Corbett said. “We can’t ask any more of her, and she’s given everything she can. She’s a great leader for us out there.”

Another goal by Waclawik about a minute later evened the score at seven. But the Quakers were unable to take the lead as the Wildcats went on two separate three-goal runs in the remaining minutes of the game.

“We hurt ourselves, and we let them back in. We were never really able to take the lead,” Corbett said.

In addition to turnovers, possession did not work in the Quakers’ favor. Northwestern’s duo of draw-control experts, Alex Frank and Alyssa Leonard, accounted for 12 of their squad’s 19 draw controls.

“They have a really solid draw,” said junior midfield Allison Tatios, who netted the final goal with 42 seconds remaining. “If we could have had it more on attack, I really think we could have broken their defense down.”

The Quakers’ defense held its own against the fast-moving Wildcat attack. After preparing for the Northwestern attacking corps all week, Penn’s defense was able to fluster its attackers and cause 21 turnovers of its own.

“We had one of our best defensive games,” Tatios said. “Because they run straight at you, we went with an approach of just going after and sending the double fast, and I think we decreased their chances.”

But despite the strong showing on both ends of the field, the Quakers were not able to come up with the win.

“We fought the whole game, they played with so much heart,” Corbett said. “In some ways, I think we deserved to win it, just again, you never really deserve to win when you throw the ball away, but for what they did on either end of the field, it was excellent.”

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