After 13-Goal Defeat, W. Lacrosse Regroups For League Rival Yale

The women’s lacrosse team picked up its sticks yesterday afternoon for the first time since the 22-9 beating it suffered at the hands of Syracuse on Wednesday. The team filed down the steps of Schoellkopf Hall, walked off the field and stopped outside the gates for a minute to regroup, before walking back through the gates for practice.
Regroup is something the team needs to find time to do, both mentally and physically, before its upcoming match tomorrow at Yale.
Yesterday’s practice was therefore be an important one, as the team tried to brush off its Syracuse experience and start preparing for the last few games of the season.
“We’re still trying to heal; recover from the game,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “I think shellacking is a good word for it.”
The defending Ivy champions have had half a season to ponder its lack of favorable results, and despite multiple disappointments and obstacles, the team feels it has done a good job maintaining a positive attitude and overall team outlook. However, this united front may be showing signs of cracking under the strain.
[img_assist|nid=23049|title=Score|desc=Junior Charlotte Schmidlapp (left) and the women’s lacrosse team face Yale tomorrow. Schmidlaap ranks fifth on the Red with 11 goals.|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=73]Graap is constantly adjusting and tweaking the lineup, looking for ways to find better results, but it hasn’t always worked out.
[Syracuse] really just beat us in all aspects of the game,” Graap said.
It looked like the Red may have finally started to come together in its decisive win over Brown last weekend, but the momentum did not last. And although there were flashes of great play in the game against Syracuse, these were few and far between.
That said, the last three losses have all come against teams with rankings in the top-20.
“It’s not like we’re losing to bad teams,” Graap said.
In the game against Syracuse, Cornell did not seem to come out ready to play, something that it has struggled with in previous matches. The Orange opened up an insurmountable first half lead and then never looked back. To its credit, the Red came out and played a much better second half, only allowing Syracuse to score eight to its five goals.
The team’s leaders also continue to do well, with attacker Courtney Farrell dominating on the offensive end. The junior scored two goals and assisting on three more, bringing to 29 her total for the season and breaking Cornell’s single season assist record set in 2003.
Ivy rival Yale is coming off an easy 13-5 victory over Brown. The Bulldogs are ranked 12th overall with a 12-3 record and a 5-1 Ivy record. Yale’s latest win kept its current eight-game unbeaten run alive and brought the squad one step closer to its goal of a NCAA tournament bid. To accomplish this, however, Yale will almost certainly have to win Saturday, as undefeated Princeton has already clinched at least a share in the Ancient Eight crown, earning an automatic tournament bid.
Cornell and Yale have a long history of comeptition, and have played a total of 28 games. Although the Bulldogs lead the overall series, 18-10, the Red was the victor last year in a 9-7 home win.