Terriers Set to Face Penn in NCAA First Round
May 12, 2007 | Women's Lacrosse
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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Making its third straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, the Boston University women’s lacrosse team (13-5) will travel to face fourth-seeded Penn (14-1) on Sunday, May 13, in a first-round match-up that features two of the country’s hottest teams. The Terriers are riding a nine-game win streak, while the Quakers have rattled off 11 consecutive victories. Sunday’s game will begin at noon on Penn’s Rhodes Field.
While the Terriers qualified for their fifth NCAA tournament – all coming since 2000 – the Quakers are making their first NCAA appearance in 23 years. Sunday’s contest will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
BU is 1-4 all-time in the NCAAs, with its lone win coming in 2005, when it posted a 12-6 first-round victory over Colgate.
The winner of Sunday’s tilt will face the winner of the Maryland/Yale contest next Saturday in the quarterfinal round.
Penn, which posted a perfect 7-0 record at home during the regular season, has won all 11 of its games since suffering its lone loss of the season against top-ranked Northwestern on March 9. However, all seven of their home contests were played at Franklin Field, which is being used this weekend for the school’s graduation ceremonies. Rhodes Field is home to Penn’s soccer teams and has a grass surface.
The Quakers qualified for the NCAA tournament by earning the Ivy League’s automatic bid, as they posted a perfect 7-0 conference record. Penn is making its third appearance in the national bracket, having earned a spot in both 1983 and 1984.
Penn’s defense is ranked second in the country, allowing only 6.33 goals per game, and junior goaltender Sarah Waxman has a save percentage of .535, good for sixth in the nation. The Quakers boast a balanced scoring attack and are led by Chrissy Muller (41 points), Rachel Manson (40) and Ali DeLuca (39). Muller is the team’s primary feeder with 22 assists, while Manson and DeLuca have tallied 32 and 31 goals apiece, respectively.
The Quakers and Terriers have four common opponents on the season, as both teams defeated Harvard and Dartmouth while also falling to Northwestern. Penn posted a 9-3 victory over Yale, a team the Terriers dropped a 13-5 road decision against early in the season.
BU captured its third straight America East title with a 17-9 victory against Albany in the conference title game on May 6. The Terriers have reeled off nine straight wins since suffering its only conference loss of the season to Stony Brook on April 7. It is the third longest win streak in program history and the longest since 2005, when BU won a school-record 14 straight.
Senior Angie Martin and sophomore Sarah Dalton each have registered a team-high 59 points for the Terriers this season. Dalton, who is one of just five players in the country to have recorded 50 goals and 50 draw controls this season, has 52 tallies this spring, while Martin has earned 23 assists. Junior Lauren Morton, who has earned 45 points this season, including 39 goals, grew up outside of Philadelphia and will be making a trip home.
Junior goalkeeper Jenna Golden has been strong between the pipes over the past month, posting a 7.34 goals against average during the nine-game winning streak.
