PHILADELPHIA – The No. 13 University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team successfully began defense of its Ivy League championship on Saturday, downing Columbia 16-5 at Franklin Field.
The Quakers remain unbeaten on the young season at 4-0, while the Lions fell to 1-2 with the loss. The game was the Ivy opener for both squads.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outshot Columbia on the day, 35-10, and senior goalie
Kelly Van Hoesen was only forced to make two stops on the day.
*Penn also controlled the center circle on draws, finishing with a 17-8 advantage.
*Senior
Niki Miles, the reigning Ivy League Attacker of the Year, picked up where she left off a year ago by tying for team-high honors with four goals.
*Senior
Julia Chai also scored four goals, a career high. They were her first four goals this season.
*Junior
Erika Chung set a season high and tied her career best with five assists on Saturday, adding two goals to finish with a career-high seven points.
*Freshman
Catherine Berkery tied her season/career high with a four-point day, recording two goals and two assists. She has at least two points in all four games so far this season.
*Junior
Keeley Block added two more points, with a goal and an assist, while junior
Anna Brandt also had two goals.
*Senior
Lexi Edmonds had her first goal since 2022 on a free-position shot; she missed the 2023 season due to injury.
*Seniors
Izzy Rohr,
Aly Feeley and
Grace Fujinaga all had three caused turnovers on the day as Penn finished the game with 15 overall.
How It Happened
Penn was slow to start on a rainy Saturday at Franklin Field, and in fact it was Columbia which got on the board first when Michelle Zhai took a nice feed from Dani Falcone in front and converted. Penn went to work quickly to tie it after that, Chung behind the goal feeding Chai in front for the quick stick, then Chung gave the Quakers a lead they wouldn't relinquish off a feed from Block.
Miles and Block scored unassisted goals to make it 4-1 late in the period, but the Lions got one of them back just seven seconds later as Anna Becker finished a Falcone pass in transition off the draw.
Penn put it away in the second quarter, outscoring Columbia 5-0. Chai opened the scoring off a Berkery feed, and then 36 seconds later Miles scored the first of two unassisted goals that covered a 1:29 span. A little more than a minute later Brandt scored unassisted, and Chai bookended the scoring with another tally off a Chung feed. Penn's lead was 9-2 at the break.
Brandt then opened up the third-quarter scoring, making it 10-2, before Natalie Raiszadeh and Cecelia Messner scored for Columbia just 1:07 apart. The teams went stagnant for the next four minutes before Chung scored unassisted, then shortly after that she fed Berkery who came around from behind to make it 12-4. Julia Sullivan added another score for Columbia in the final minute of the period, and after three quarters the Quakers' lead was 12-5.
The fourth quarter was all Penn. Chai scored four minutes in, Miles converted a free-position goal three minutes after that, and Berkery got this game to a running clock with 6:04 left. Edmonds closed out the scoring with 2:36 left, putting her free-position shot inside the lower left corner.
Up Next
The Quakers are off until next Saturday when the Quakers renew their rivalry with head coach
Karin Corbett's alma mater, William & Mary. First draw between the Quakers and Tribe will take place at 11 a.m. in Williamsburg.
For the latest on Penn women's lacrosse, follow @PennWomensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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