Penn women's lacrosse gets revenge on Georgetown, earns double-digit win in D.C.

Penn women’s lacrosse ended last season with a loss in double overtime to Georgetown, but this season is different. Revenge is sweet, and for the Red and Blue this weekend, their game against Georgetown proved that. 

No. 12 Penn blew No. 19 Georgetown out of the water on its home turf Saturday afternoon, 17-6. This was the first game of the season for the Quakers but the second for the Hoyas. 

“Last year, we lost to Georgetown [in the last game of the season], so we’ve had that revenge coming from our entire preseason leading up to our first game. What better way to start the season to go out hard against them,” senior midfielder Erin Barry said.

The game started with seven consecutive goals by Penn without a response from Georgetown until there was just 1:42 remaining in the first half. Georgetown’s first goal was promptly answered by another Penn goal, sending the Quakers into the second half leading, 8-1.

Leading the scoring in this first half was Barry, with four goals, and senior attacker Gabby Rosenzweig chipped in two more. Both players were also placed on the Tewaaraton Award watch list.

Going into the second half, the Red and Blue once again began the scoring with a goal just three minutes in. 

“In the last two seasons, we’ve always had higher expectations every year, so I’m really glad we started out setting the bar high this year,” Rosenzweig said. “We’ve been working on a lot of strategy leading up to this, so it was really great to put it in action.”

At that point, Georgetown tried to claw their way back into the game, and the Hoyas scored five goals in just under three minutes, shrinking the Penn lead to three.

Then, with just over 11 minutes left in the game, the Quakers took off on their second scoring streak of the game, topping their previous seven-point run with eight straight points to end the game with a score of 17-6.

“We came out absolutely firing, and our defense just played so great, and the attack soon followed. It was just really fun to see all the work that we’ve put in since September really pay off between the attack side and the defensive side, I felt like it was all around a really great team effort,” Rosenzweig said.

Freshman attacker Niki Miles also impressed during the game, scoring two goals during Penn’s second scoring steak and adding two crucial assists — one in each half. 

“For me personally, I could always improve on the draw, I think the draw is a huge part of the game, it’s the differential between winning and losing games,” Barry said.

The team's preparation for this season started back in September with some calculated changes, such as the addition of a new strength training coach, that have evidently paid off.

“[Our new strength coach] has been so amazing, the energy that he brings every day really just hypes us up, which is a huge factor in our game plan and preparation for the season,” Barry said.

Next week, Penn will face Johns Hopkins at Franklin Field on Saturday afternoon.