Penn women's lacrosse breaks out in second half to beat Lehigh

Once again, the Penn women’s lacrosse team struggled to put together a complete 60-minute performance.

But this time, the Quakers managed to pull out a victory.

Penn (5-4) dominated an outclassed Lehigh (3-9) squad on Wednesday night, 13-4. Following its 0-3 start, Penn has now won five of its last six games, the lone blemish being a 15-10 defeat to No. 1 Maryland last Saturday.

The Quakers fell behind early, 2-0, as Lehigh stalled, making it difficult for Penn to gain possession. The Red and Blue recovered, though, with three goals before halftime.

“In the first half we were pretty sloppy. We threw the ball away. It looked like we weren’t ready off the first draw,” coach Karin Brower Corbett said.

But the Quakers roared back with 10 second-half goals, ultimately chasing Lehigh goalkeeper Alex Fitzpatrick and cruising to victory.

“I was not pleased with [our team] at halftime,” Corbett said. “They answered back.

“The biggest goal for us is to play for 60 minutes, and I really hope that we can do that down the road,” she added.

Despite the final score, Wednesday night was yet another game where the Quakers played inconsistently. In its loss to Maryland, Penn fell behind, 4-0, but managed to compete with the top team in the nation even in the second half.

In their two preceding overtime victories against Vanderbilt and Cornell, the Red and Blue surrendered leads of five and seven goals, respectively, before rallying in the extra period.

Win or lose, the Quakers have struggled to put everything together this season.

“I want to see a team that plays with heart and fight,” Corbett said, mentioning that she thought the team lacked both during their three-game losing streak to open the season.

“I felt we were lackadaisical about things [early in the season], but the last six games we’ve been able to generate some momentum on attack and finish our opportunities,” she said.

But judging by the performances of some of the Quakers’ top scorers against the Mountain Hawks, perfection may be close at hand.

Senior Meredith Cain and junior Tory Bensen led the Quakers with four goals apiece. Corbett said Cain played “a complete game.”

Corbett also singled out the performance of senior Maddie Poplawski, who followed up a strong performance against Maryland with six draw controls.

Penn’s leading scorer, freshman Iris Williamson, scored but a single goal after having notched four goals in three of the previous four games.

“We have a lot of different kids who can score,” Corbett said. “It’s nice to see different people stepping up in different games.”

The Quakers resume their Ivy League schedule this Saturday against last-place Columbia, Penn’s last chance to play 60 minutes of quality lacrosse against a weak opponent before facing fellow Ivy leaders Dartmouth and Princeton.

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