The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

dsc-5534

Penn Women's Lacrosse celebrates their win on March 31. 

Credit: Anjali Kishore

Beat Princeton. Enough said.

No. 5 Princeton came in for the annual rivalry matchup with a nearly unblemished record and the ranking to match. But No. 18 Penn had a mission. With the lights shining on Franklin Field and ESPNU watching, the Quakers defeated their archrivals 15-12.

“It’s absolutely unreal. Especially as a freshman, everyone talks about beating Princeton. It’s the best feeling,” freshman goalkeeper Orly Sedransk said.

It was an early back and forth effort between the two Ancient Eight teams until Princeton (11-2, 4-1) broke the ice to take a 1-0 lead. Their one lead of the game was short lived as just one possession later, freshman midfielder Meryl Docking had the equalizer – catching the ball mid-air and slamming it in in one quick motion.


The first half was all Penn (7-5, 3-2 Ivy) as Princeton struggled to score and maintain possession of the ball. Princeton turned the ball over seven times along in the first quarter against the fortress of Penn defense. The keeper of the castle was Sedransk, who saved eight of 11 shots on goal to tame Princeton in the first half.

Sedransk looked like a veteran out there going up against the likes of Princeton’s attackers, including Tewaaraton Award Watch List nominee attacker McKenzie Blake. Sedransk had 14 saves on the day — a career-high as she continues to shine in her debut season.

“The defense gets me through every single game. It’s really tough being goalie – it’s lonely out there – but they never make it seem like that,” Sedransk said. “They’re always checking in on me no matter the mistake.”

Just like their goalie, underclassmen led the way for the Quakers on the offensive end. Freshman midfielder Sarah Kelley netted one while sophomore attackers Catherine Berkery and Regan O’Brien let it rain with two apiece in the first half.

“Our scouts worked their asses off to prep us. On offense we were communicating, and we played with heart,” O’Brien, who had a career-high five goals, said, “This was one of the games where I felt that we truly came together and played our best and had amazing flow, but it all came down to the preparation.”

Everything was going Penn’s way in the second half with a commanding 7-3 lead. O’Brien had another quick goal 40 seconds in, but Princeton started to find the chinks in the armor. Princeton scored six goals in the quarter, including three unanswered ones, to turn this from a blowout to a nail-biter.

To quell the roaring Tigers who were within one goal, senior midfielder Anna Brandt — also a Tewaaraton Award Watch List nominee broke defender Dylan Allen’s ankles and scored to put the Quakers up by 11-9. And in the fourth quarter, senior attacker Keeley Block found Brandt again to take their lead to three goals.


But Princeton got multiple free-position goal opportunities. Penn also suffered multiple man-up opportunities late in the game as Princeton forced a comeback, including three green cards on Berkery and a green card on Block.

“It’s one thing for your defenders to get cards for playing solid defense. It’s another for your attackers,” coach Karin Corbett said. “We’ve got to clean that up, and they know that. And we’ll keep stressing it.”

After 52 minutes of play and the third consecutive free-position goal, the game was all tied up at 12-12.

But it didn’t last long.

Block made sure of that. She scored her third goal of the game within one minute of the draw control. The next possession, senior defender Natasha Gorriaran swiped the ball away from Princeton attacker Haven Dora. Time ticked away, and Princeton’s chances to keep their 11-game winning streak alive faded as Penn finished the job.

“For us, it was really about running our motion offense and not panicking and not standing and watching because we were scoring with all seven of them really working the defense,” Corbett said about keeping their offensive momentum going.

After the buzzer sounded, Penn celebrated by singing “The Red and Blue” to the crowd as they reveled in another win over a Top 25 team. The Quakers will be back on Franklin Field very soon, playing Cornell on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Currently in a three-way tie for third in the Ancient Eight with Yale and Cornell, the game will be a deciding factor on who punches their ticket to the Ivy League Tournament.

“We’re gonna come in, prepping just as hard,” O’Brien said. “Our communication, our fire, our grit – just keep going and work on the mistakes that we did have during this game.”