After Penn came out strongly in the opening minutes, the Cornell women’s lacrosse squad (6-0, 2-0 Ivy) rebounded quickly, beating the Quakers, 11-6, Saturday in Philadelphia. It was the Quakers’ fourth straight loss.
The Red was paced by senior dynamos Sarah Averson and Sarah Fischer, who had three goals apiece in the match. Sophomores Lindsay Steinberg and Julia Hughey both had outstanding games, with each adding a pair of goals. The real star for the Red, however, was junior goalkeeper Ashley Charron, who posted a career-high 14 saves.
After winning the opening faceoff, the Quakers were able to penetrate into Cornell’s zone, scoring just 30 seconds into the match. However, the Red was unfazed and quickly rebounded, proceeding to score the next six goals.
“The wake up call was just what we needed, as [we] responded by scoring the next six goals,” explained head coach Jenny Graap ’86.
Penn made a bit of a comeback by notching two straight goals to cut the Cornell lead to three. The Red did not allow the Quakers to build any momentum, though. Sophomore Kristin Smith made a pass to Hughey right in front to go into halftime up 7-3.
“Fortunately, [we] stole the momentum going into halftime,” said Graap.
Charron was the star of the second half. Despite some defensive lapses on Cornell’s part, Charron was able to stop nine of 12 shots to hold off a desperate Penn offense, and set a personal best in total stops for the game.
“The second half saw [Charron] making save after save,” said Graap. “[She played] an outstanding game between the pipes.”
Averson and Fischer helped the Red out on the offensive end in the second half as well, with both women picking up a hat trick on the afternoon. Smith rounded out the scoring when she put home a goal with 17 seconds left, off of senior defender Rachel Friedman’s first assist of the season.
Despite winning, the Red had quite a bit to be disappointed about. The uncharacteristic “19” in the turnover column clearly captured Cornell’s somewhat sloppy play.
“As a team we turned the ball over 19 times, which left us feeling quite frustrated after the final whistle,” said Graap. “We’re happy to be 6-0, but we need to get healthy, and to get ready for a huge weekend in Ithaca with Princeton coming to town Friday night, and Vanderbilt on Sunday.”
The Red faces Princeton and Vanderbilt this weekend. The game against Princeton will have major implications, as it will likely determine this year’s Ivy champion.
Archived article by Michael Pandolfini