Patience is a virtue. Columbia women’s lacrosse team learned things the hard way on Saturday night at a windy, rain-soaked Wien Stadium when they faced Penn in the second game of their Ivy campaign.
“I didn’t expect [Penn] to come out and be so patient,” head coach Kerri Whitaker said. “I thought they would come out and bomb away a little more.”
Penn’s Emily Cochran drew first blood just 35 seconds into the contest but the lead was short lived as Columbia senior co-captain Grace Sterritt evened the score less than two minutes later as both sides adjusted to the difficult conditions.
“It was fun to play in the rain,” Sterritt said. “But catching and throwing was definitely more difficult with the wind.”
Penn quickly settled into the game, camping outside the Lions’ crease and forcing Columbia into a strong, physical defensive performance. They focused on playing opportunistically, continually pressuring and hurrying the Quaker attackers and capitalizing on turnovers.
“Defensively, it was a much more coordinated and cohesive effort,” Whitaker said. “We played a really sharp and smart game against Penn. They have a lot of weapons and a lot of kids who can score.”
Still, they could not prevent the visitors from opening up a two-goal lead. Sophomore Elyse Pultz closed it, albeit briefly, on a fast break which saw the ball go from one end of the field to the other in a matter of seconds. She picked up a quick pass out of the back 40 yards from the Penn net and raced upfield to put a shot past goalkeeper Liz Lorelli.
Penn would score two more goals in the last 15 minutes of the half taking their biggest lead yet at 5-2.
The Quakers came out for the second half sticking to their game plan of setting up around the net and waiting for an opening. But, if half-time didn’t change Penn’s game, it certainly had an effect on the home side. The Lions looked like they finally had enough energy to play aggressively, both on offense and defense.
Just over three minutes into the period, Penn again threatened the Light Blue net and created a good opportunity from a central position. But Calidonio managed to pull off a quick double-save from close range to deny the Quakers.
From that, the Lions regained possession and, showing good pace, ran the ball to the other end of the field where Kate Lombard carved out a chance and earned a free position shot from which she closed the gap to two goals.
Lombard would find herself in the same situation three minutes later, with the Lions once again down by three, after a goal from Allie Juras of Penn. This time, however, she couldn’t capitalize, blazing her shot over the net.
Despite the new-found aggression in Columbia’s play, the Quakers stayed characteristically calm and extended the lead to four, putting the score at 7-3, a little over a minute later.
A number of excellent saves from junior goalkeeper Marcela Calidonio kept Columbia in the game while the Light Blue offense kept pressing forward, seeking to end their 15-minute scoreless drought.
With fewer than ten minutes to go until the final buzzer, Penn reestablished their possession game, seeming quite happy to catch and throw in the attacking third of the field, waiting for a shooting opportunity to present itself. A chance came with 5:36 remaining and Penn’s Rachel Manson took advantage, scoring off Calidonio’s rebound to make it 8-3 and lengthen the odds of a Lion comeback.
As time ran out, Columbia looked more and more like a team in desperation, passing erratically, giving up the ball cheaply, and committing unnecessary fouls. Ninety seconds from full time, Calidonio, who had provided a strong performance in the Columbia net, left her crease to pick up the ball, but then proceeded to throw directly at Penn’s Cochran who was left with the simplest of tasks, tossing the ball into an empty goal to seal the 9-3 victory.
The Lions will have another home game against Fairfield on Wednesday before next weekend’s trip to Providence.
Despite the defeat, confidence remains high among the players as they took some positive points from the game.
“We played aggressively and as a unit,” Sterritt said. “Fairfield is a weaker team, Penn is ranked no. 13, and we should beat them. Then we’re going to go to Brown and get our first Ivy win.”