Penn women's lacrosse pushes past turmoil to top Hoyas

After facing some turmoil on and off the field, Penn women’s lacrosse was able to keep itself focused and earn a much-needed victory.

The No. 12 Quakers traveled down to Baltimore on Tuesday and strung together an offensive flurry in the second half to take down No. 19 Georgetown in a neutral-site win, 8-6, the Red and Blue’s first win over a ranked opponent this season.

After getting pasted by No. 2 Maryland two weeks ago and barely hanging on against Vanderbilt last Sunday, Penn (6-2) faced some more early trouble, falling behind just 1:45 into the contest after Hoyas midfield Kelyn Freedman converted a shot.

Though the Quakers would respond with a pair of goals from sophomore midfields Nina Corcoran and Lely DeSimone, Georgetown (3-7) held a 4-3 lead at the half, as a goal from Hoyas attack Colleen Lovett put her squad on top with just 4:24 to go in the period.

Facing the possibility of entering Saturday Alumni Day festivities on a losing note, the Quakers rallied in the halftime locker room and came out with an offensive fire.

“We talked a lot about that at halftime, that we just needed to have more balls moved in, and more hard challenges ... and work their defense,” coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “Our attack really answered in doing that.

“We really had their defense turning a lot and created a lot of really nice opportunities that we finished off.”

As a matter of fact, the Quakers were able to finish off five such opportunities in a span of eight minutes and 20 seconds midway through the second half, which started when sophomore midfield Catherine Dickinson converted off a feed from Iris Williamson with 23:43 to go and ended after freshman attack Sarah Barcia scored unassisted near the period’s halfway mark.

With an 8-4 lead in hand, Penn was able to stave off a Georgetown rally thanks to its defensive efforts and ability to take advantage of draw controls — the Quakers picked up nine to the Hoyas’ seven.

“[Draw controls have] been a struggle for us,” Corbett said. “So it was really important to have those opportunities, especially with their offense ... they’re very patient and you can be on defense a lot.”

The win also gave the Red and Blue something positive to focus in on after receiving some negative off-the-field publicity.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the general manager of Fado Irish Pub in Center City has made allegations about the team’s conduct at a preplanned party last weekend, accusing students of breaking facilities, stealing a bottle of liquor from the bar, smoking marijuana in the bathroom and exposing a young woman’s genitals to the party.

No coaches or players were made available for comment on the allegations.

But on the field, the Red and Blue were happy to pick up a second win in a row with just one game left in nonconference play.

“We needed to have a top-20 win out of conference,” Corbett said. “And I was pleased that we could do that and show that we deserve the ranking that we have.”

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