Penn women's lacrosse traveled to New Haven, Connecticut to compete against Yale on Apr. 7.
Credit: Grace ChenAs the defending Ivy League champions, No. 7 Penn women’s lacrosse’s journey to repeat as the queens of the Ancient Eight required a win New Haven, Conn. The Red and Blue’s loss to No. 18 Princeton on Wednesday left No. 16 Yale alone in first place as the only team left undefeated in conference play, heading into the game.
The last time the two teams faced off was in the 2023 Ivy League tournament championship game, where Penn pulled away with a tight 15-14 overtime win. This time around, the Bulldogs got their revenge with a 16-8 win to preserve their undefeated run of the conference.
“I think Yale played really well,” coach Karin Corbett said. “The things that plagued us against Princeton plagued us today … We were sloppy with the ball in transition, as well as on attack, and then we just gave up too many looks on the defensive side, and we didn't play with enough urgency on the attack.”
With Penn (8-3, 2-2 Ivy) and Yale (10-1, 4-0) both entering the matchup tied for third in scoring defense nationally, the stage was set for a low-scoring affair. This remained true for only the first quarter of play. As with the team’s previous game, the Quakers got off to a hot start. After Yale opened up the scoring with attacker Jenna Collignon’s first of the contest, freshman attacker Catherine Berkerey and junior attacker Keeley Block scored in quick succession to give Penn an early 2-1 lead.
However, the lead for the Quakers did not last long, as Yale closed the quarter with a 3-0 run to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 advantage. Their scoring run continued into a second quarter, where the Bulldogs found the back of the net six times in comparison to the Quakers’ one. The seven-goal deficit the Red and Blue entered the halftime break with was the largest deficit that the team has faced this year.
Coming out of the break, even with the switch from a zone to man defense, many of Penn’s struggles continued. Across the day, the Quakers had trouble possessing the ball and converting those possessions into goals. After tallying 41 shots against Princeton earlier this week, Penn finished the contest recording just 19 shots against a suffocating Bulldog defense, and their first goal of the second half didn’t come until junior midfielder Gracie Smith scored off a free position with just three minutes left in the third quarter.
It took the Quakers midway through the fourth quarter before the team finally seemed to settle into some form of rhythm on offense. Junior midfielder Anna Brandt finally found herself on the scoresheet, finishing the game with two goals — both from the fourth quarter — while Berkerey added on to her own tally to close out the game with a team-leading three goals. But it was too little, too late as the Red and Blue suffered its largest loss since a 15-7 defeat to Loyola Maryland over a year ago.
“The third quarter was tough in that we didn’t get the ball a whole lot, so it was hard to make some of those adjustments,” Corbett said. “But then I think in the fourth quarter, we did once we started to get the ball a little bit towards the end, but it’s a little bit too late.”
The 16 goals scored by Yale were the most the Penn defense has conceded this season, and this was the second consecutive game that the unit has let in double digit goals. A large reason for this was the amount of time that defense was forced to play, as Penn’s offense couldn’t get into rhythm. Despite the defense producing turnovers and getting stops, many of the possessions ended in turnovers or saved shots, giving the defensive unit very little time to rest.
“We also struggled on the draws,” Corbett said. “We just couldn’t get the ball on the draw. So the drawers were only a three difference, but it was kind of when they happened. We just couldn’t get the ball much in the third quarter, and that’s when they went on a big run.”
After starting the week tied for first place in the Ivy League with Yale, two consecutive losses to No. 18 Princeton and Yale sank the team in the rankings to fourth place — now tied with Brown and Cornell. An Ivy League tournament appearance that once seemed like a forgone conclusion for the Penn squad is now being called into question, as one more loss in league play would mean that the preseason favorites to win the conference will see their season ending prematurely.
The loss all but mathematically eliminates the Quakers from repeating as Ivy League champions as well. With Yale now at 4-0 in the division and Princeton and Harvard close behind with 3-1 records in division play, even if Penn wins the rest of its games, it will take a lot of favorable results across the last three weeks of conference play in order for the team to come out on top.
Penn women’s lacrosse will continue its streak of road games, heading to Ithaca, N.Y. to face off against Cornell on April 13 at 12 p.m. In a must-win match for the Red and Blue, the team will be looking to get back into the win column in Ivy League play.
“We have a whole week to prepare,” Corbett said. “We have a good four days to work on some of the things that we need to do better for ourselves and then look towards Cornell towards the end of the week.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
