Penn women's lacrosse opens its season against rival Drexel

With only two seniors on the roster, the Penn women’s lacrosse team is without a doubt a very young team. But that doesn’t mean the Quakers are lowering their expectations.

“We want to try to win another Ivy League championship; we’d like to get back to the Final Four,” coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “I think we were a little disappointed at the end of the season last year, and we’re hoping we can do better this year.”

The Quakers will take the first step toward achieving those ultimate goals as they face off against University City rival Drexel tomorrow at Vidas Field.

While attack Erin Brennan and goalie and Daily Pennsylvanian videographer Emily Leitner are the only seniors on the squad, the newly named co-captains have confidence in the experience of new and returning underclassmen.

“There are only seven of us upperclassmen, but I think we have a strong presence there,” Brennan said. “But at the same time, we’ll be relying on younger people to do their jobs and start, hopefully.”

Corbett will look to sophomores Courtney Tomchik, who was out all last season with an injury, and Brittany Swanson, who came off the bench in one game last year, to bring some strength to the midfield. On the defensive end, Corbett will start some of her freshman, who she says are adjusting to the collegiate game nicely.

“We definitely break down a lot of things that they definitely thought they knew how to do in high school,” she said. “You can see them — they stumble a little bit with confidence because it’s so new, and they feel like they’re making a lot of mistakes — but you can see them as they start to get it, you can see that confidence really start to grow, which is great.”

Although Penn has some confidence of its own, as the Red and Blue have defeated the Dragons (2-0) in each of their last five season openers, the Quakers are not taking this game lightly.

“Drexel is not a team to be overlooked,” Leitner said. “They’re a strong team, and they come out and they give us a really good game every year. They’re never quite out of it. So even if you have a couple goals on them, they can always come back.”

And the Dragons have proven their tactical strength in their first two matchups.

Earlier in the week against George Washington, Drexel’s offense went on a six-goal scoring spree in the second half to notch a 15-10 victory.

Leitner said the Dragons’ strength lies in their ability to control the pace of the game.

“They’re very patient, and they have very good feeders from behind, kids that, if you go after them in a one-on-one behind the net, they’re going to take you,” Corbett added. “So you can’t have them have the ball a lot because they will put their own timeline on the game and delay it.”

Drexel returns a key goal scorer in senior Charlotte Wood, who led the team with 46 goals and 42 assists last season, including three goals against the Quakers. Sophomore Amanda Norcini has also proven herself in the first two games this season, tallying four goals in each of Drexel’s outings.

“The longer that you’re on defense without [opponents] actually going to goal and giving us those opportunities to cause turnovers, your attack can get a little tight and push things and force things and play right into that,” Corbett said.

“We have to try a little bit to get them out of their game and hopefully have the ball more than them.”

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