NEW YORK - The Columbia women's lacrosse team outscored No. 2 Penn 8-3 in the second half, but it was not enough as the Quakers defeated the Lions, 16-11. Columbia's 11 goals is the most the Quakers have surrendered so far this season. The Lions fall to 5-3, 0-2 Ivy League while the Quaker remain perfect at 8-0, 3-0 Ivy League.

It was a tale of two halves, with Penn dominating the opening stanza. The Quakers held a commanding 11-0 lead before Columbia was able to get on the board with an unassisted goal by Lauren Olsen with 6:36 remaining in the half. Brittany Shannon followed with two goals of her own including a free position goal with just over three minutes to play.

Penn responded with two goals to close out the half with a 13-3 lead.

Columbia struck first in the second half as Gabrielle Geronimos tallied the first of her two second half goals. After Penn expanded its lead to 15-4 on back-to-back goals by Erin Brennan, the Lions? defense would buckle down as the offense came alive.

Columbia went on to score seven of the final eight goals of the game as they outshot the Quakers 16-7 in the second half. Megan Donovan, Rachael Ryan, Kelly Buechel, and Taylor Gattinella each had single tallies during the run.

First-year Amanda Goodhart continued her solid defensive play with two caused two turnovers while Buechel had a team-high four draw controls.

Emma Mintz and Karlee Blank split time in the cage for Columbia. Mintz picked up six saves while Blank had two in her collegiate debut.

Columbia travels to nearby Princeton, N.J. on Wednesday, April 1 for a 7:00 p.m. matchup against the Tigers.

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NEW YORK, N.Y.--The No. 2 Penn women's lacrosse team survived Columbia's eight-goal surge in the second half and won 16-11. The Quakers remain undefeated this season at 8-0. In a tale of two halves, Penn came out ahead thanks to a 13-3 first half. Juniors Ali DeLuca and Emma Spiro led the Red and Blue with four goals each.

The first half looked like most of Penn's games this season. Opening with an early goal on and eight-meter shot, Ali DeLuca scored twice more before six minutes had expired. The Quakers cruised to an 11-0 lead and did not let Columbia into the game until 6:36 when Lauren Olsen netted one. That sparked a three-goal run over the next three minutes, but Penn punctuated the period with two more scores and held a 13-3 at the break.

Nearly every statistical category was flipped in the second half. Where Penn had out shot the Lions 20-5 in the first, Columbia dominated the shots 16-7. On free position attempts, Penn made four in the first to Columbia's one, but that was switched in the second.

One area that Penn did stay consistent in is allowing few assists. Despite allowing the most goals of the season, the Penn defense did not allow the Lions to set up plays. Five of Columbia's goals came on free position shots and the other six were all unassisted.

Both teams saw minutes from two goalies. For Penn, junior Emily Szelest made four saves in 40 minutes in goal. Newcomer Emily Leitner made one save in her 20 minutes. For Columbia, Emma Mintz made six saves in the first and was swapped out for Karlee Blank in the second. Blank made two saves in the second.

The game kicked off a three-game road stretch for Penn. The Quakers will head south to Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. The game is set for 7:00 p.m. Members of the Penn women's lacrosse team will be honored tomorrow at the National Lacrosse League's Philadelphia Wings game at the Wachovia Center. That game is set for 7:30 p.m.

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2009-03-27