Penn Rallies to Down W. Lacrosse

The Harvard women’s lacrosse team took a 5-1 lead five minutes before halftime, but gave up ten unanswered goals—nine in the second half—to fall 11-5 to Penn on Saturday. The loss was the sixth straight for the Crimson (1-8, 0-3 Ivy).

Whitney Horton began the second-half outburst for the Quakers (5-7, 2-2), putting one in the top of the net with 25 minutes to go.

Less than 30 seconds later, Crissy Book followed with another quick score. As rain slowly started to fall on the field, Harvard collapsed.

Penn senior Alison Polk-Williams rifled a pass from behind the goal to Lindsey Cassidy, who powered a shot past Harvard junior goalie Laura Mancini to tie the game with just 21 minutes to play.

Polk-Williams then bounced a free position shot into the lower left corner of the net 71 seconds later to put Penn up 6-5.

Having taken the lead for the first time, the Quakers were unrelenting. They continued to pour on the pressure, and the Crimson defense seemed powerless to stop them from scoring. Penn tallied five more goals over the final 17:29, including three—two unassisted—from Emily Cochrane.

Even when Harvard managed to gain control of the ball, it rarely could get it out of its end. The Crimson attack, meanwhile, struggled to maintain possession in the Quaker zone. Penn’s uncanny ability to recover nearly every ground ball—16 in the second half to Harvard’s nine—only made the Crimson’s sloppy play all the worse.

The Quakers’ second-half dominance came in sharp contrast to a strong first-half showing by Harvard. Freshman attack Emma Millon opened the game for the Crimson with an unassisted goal, and co-captain midfielder Katie Shaughnessy followed soon after with one of her own.

After Penn responded to cut the lead in half, Harvard scored three straight. Junior midfielder Jen Brooks drove in from the left and launched a shot into the upper left corner of the net. Shaughnessy followed with her second goal of the game on an impressive play in which she weaved in and out of every member of the Quaker defense before rocketing it into the net. Sophomore attack Casey Owens completed the rally by scoring off a free position shot to give the Crimson a comfortable 5-1 lead with five minutes left in the half.

Penn responded quickly, however, as Cassidy scored the second of her three goals less than 30 seconds later. It became apparent that momentum had begun to swing the Quakers’ way as they threatened to score for the next five minutes. Only a fortuitous bounce off Mancini’s foot kept Penn from further cutting into the Harvard lead before the half.

The half ended with Crimson sophomore midfielder Rory Edwards receiving a long pass from the defense. All alone in front of the Quaker net, she stood poised to take her shot when the buzzer blared. Other than some frantic attempts in the final few meaningless minutes of the game, it would be the Crimson’s last serious scoring threat.

Harvard returns to action tomorrow when it hosts New Hampshire at 4 p.m. on Jordan Field.