Freshman Liv Comerford looks to pass against Northwestern on May 16, 2024.
Credit: Sydney CurranIt’s time to accept the facts: Penn is a lacrosse school.
Look no further than the previous successes of the women’s lacrosse team, which is led by coach Karin Corbett in her 26th season. Last season, the Quakers knocked off No. 1 Maryland — the first win over a No. 1 seed since 2008 — and later advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Their prowess, especially in non-conference play, earned them a No. 12 national ranking last year.
This spring, Penn will face the titans of the lacrosse world, the first of which will be No. 10 Johns Hopkins on the road. The team will also travel to play No. 4 Michigan, who beat Penn in a defensive stalemate last year, and No. 16 Loyola Maryland, who Penn handily defeated 13-6. The team’s faceoff against No. 7 Maryland will be its one non-conference ranked matchup at home.
Penn isn’t the only Ivy League team in the national rankings. Yale is ranked No. 8, and Princeton sits not too far behind Penn at No. 17. These are the only two Ivy teams that defeated Penn last season. In the finals of the Ivy League Tournament, Yale surged a comeback against Penn to send the game to overtime and win 9-10.
The Ivy League rankings reflect Yale’s 2024 victory over Penn: Yale sits at No. 1 and Penn sits at No. 2. Yale received 13 first-place votes while Penn only received two.
From a personnel perspective, the Quakers will look a little different from last year due to multiple key players graduating.
The 2024 graduating class included multiple mainstays on their defensive unit such as the former two-time unanimous Ivy League Defender of the Year Izzy Rohr and 2023 second team All-Ivy goalkeeper Kelly Van Hoesen.
The new blood on the defense will need to step up. The defensive unit will likely feature freshman goalkeeper Orly Sedransk, who graduated high school as the top goalie in the United States and the No. 11 overall recruit in the country.
Similarly, many offensive stars graduated. The Quakers no longer have Niki Miles — the 2023 unanimous Ivy League Attacker of the Year. In 2023, Miles set the program record for 63 goals in a single season.
But don’t think Penn has lost all its firepower.
Coming back for one final campaign for the Red and Blue is senior attacker Erika Chung. Chung was named to the Preseason Honorable Mention All-America list by USA Lacrosse. She finished last season with a team-leading 52 assists and joined the 100-point club. In total, she has 93 assists, putting her at fourth on the program’s all-time record books.
Senior midfielder Anna Brandt is also back and looking to make her mark in the history books. With 138 goals to her name, she needs just 11 goals to become the all-time leading goal scorer in program history. Averaging about three goals per game for the past two seasons, she is on track to break the record by her fourth game — leaving 11 games left to play.
Brandt has put the nation on notice: She’s been named a first team Preseason USA Lacrosse All-American and second team Preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse. Highest of them all, Brandt has been named to the 2025 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
Brandt is one of five captains for the 2025 campaign. The all-senior captain lineup also includes attacker Keeley Block, defender Grace Lillis, midfielder Gracie Smith, and defender Natasha Gorriaran. Both Block and Gorriaran previously received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition.
There are now only a few more days between the Quakers and their 2025 campaign. They’ll be playing the best of the best all season long — time to see where the Quakers stand among them.
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