PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team is making its sixth appearance in the NCAA quarterfinal round under current Lois S. Leitner Head Coach Karin Corbett, and the Quakers will renew a dormant rivalry when they travel to the Chicagoland region to face defending champion and top-seeded Northwestern. Thursday's game will start at 6:30 p.m. in Chicago (7:30 EST) and will air live on ESPNU.
 
GAME 20 – (8) PENN (15-4) at (1) NORTHWESTERN (16-2)
NCAA Championship Quarterfinal
Thursday, May 16, 2024 | 7:30 p.m.
Evanston, Ill. | Martin Stadium
Watch Live on ESPNU ($) | Live Stats | Tickets
 
Penn in the NCAA Championship
*Penn is making its 17th appearance in the NCAAs and has missed this event just once since 2007; that came in 2022. (A reminder there was no Championship in 2020, and Ivy League teams were ineligible to compete in the postseason in 2021.)
 
*Penn is coming off wins against Richmond (16-5) and Loyola (12-9) last weekend in Philadelphia, the 11th and 12th times the Quakers hosted NCAA games and the first since 2017.
 
*Penn is 17-16 all-time in NCAA play—the Quakers have a 16-14 mark under Corbett—and has been a quarterfinalist six times now (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2024), a semifinalist three times (2007, 2008, 2009), and a finalist once (2008).
 
*Penn is an 8 seed for the second time in tournament history, the other coming in 2010 when the Quakers opened with a win over BU and then lost at top-seeded Maryland, 15-10. Overall, Penn is a seed for the seventh time in NCAA history.
  #2 seed: 2008
  #4 seed: 2007, 2009
  #7 seed: 2016, 2017
  #8 seed: 2009, 2024
 
The Series with Northwestern
*The Quakers and Wildcats will meet for the 21st time when they take the field Thursday, NU holding a 16-4 lead in a series that had its first game on March 16, 1984 (a 7-5 Penn win).
 
*These teams met in every regular season from 2005-22, with the Quakers' wins coming in 2008 (11-7 against an NU team that was top-ranked at the time), 2016 (14-13 in OT), and 2017 (10-7). The 2017 win is Penn's only victory in Evanston; the Quakers are 1-7 all-time when visiting NU.
 
*Penn and Northwestern have met three times in NCAA play, all of them on Championship Weekend. In 2007, the Wildcats beat an upstart Quakers team in the semifinals (at Penn's Franklin Field) en route to a third straight national championship, 12-2. A year later these teams met for the national title, NU winning its fourth straight with a 10-6 win at Towson University. A year after that, they met in an epic semifinal, again at Towson, Northwestern scoring in the dying seconds of the first overtime—it wasn't sudden death in 2009, as it is now—and then winning it in the sudden-death second OT, 13-12.
 
Penn in the National Stats (team)
As of Monday, May 13…
*9th in scoring defense (8.58)
*11th in CTs per game (10.21)
*13th in shots per game (32.95)
*14th in free-position percentage (.544)
*15th in scoring margin (+4.32)
*18th in DC percentage (.571)
*21st in clearing percentage (.917)
 
Penn in the National Stats (players)
*Senior goalie Kelly Van Hoesen is fourth in goals-against average (8.47).
 
*Senior Niki Miles in eighth in free position percentage (.704) and ninth in free position goals per game (1.00).
 
*Junior Erika Chung is eighth in assists per game (2.83).
 
*Junior Anna Brandt is 17th in shots per game (7.53).
 
Penn Women's Lacrosse by the Numbers
2 • Players who have been voted Ivy League Defender of the Year twice since the award started being given in 2013. Both are Quakers: Meg Markham in 2014 and 2015, and Izzy Rohr (unanimously) each of the last two seasons.
 
3 • Penn players honored as USA Lacrosse All-Americans: Rohr (third team), junior Anna Brandt (HM) and senior Niki Miles (HM).
 
8 • Assists dished out last weekend by junior Erika Chung, five against Richmond and three vs. Loyola; she has 17 across the last four games—including a tournament-record nine at the Ivy League Tournament at Yale—and 26 in the last six.
 
12 • Saves made Sunday against Loyola by Kelly Van Hoesen, tied for her career high and her fourth double-digit save game in the last five contest; Van Hoesen's .688 save percentage against Richmond on Friday also was a career high.
 
11 • Penn's victory margin last Friday against Richmond (16-5), largest in program history in an NCAA game; the 16 goals were one shy of the program standard in an NCAA game.
 
12 • Of Penn's 19 opponents this season, the Quakers have held 13 scoreless for at least 15 minutes of game time; on Friday, Penn held Richmond goalless for a 17:32 span across the first and second quarters and the game's final 21:50, then on Sunday the Quakers shut out Loyola for a 15:34 span.
 
12 • Draw controls by Miles on Friday, two shy of the program single-game record she set the previous weekend in the ILT against Princeton and her third double-figure DC game this season; prior to this season, just four players had reached double digits in that category since the stat started being tracked.
 
16 • Brandt's streak of multi-goal games, starting with Penn's March 2 Ivy opener against Columbia; the run includes an eight-goal game, a five-goal game, four four-goal games, and five hat tricks.
 
17 • NCAA appearances by Penn, including 15 of the last 16 seasons.
 
25 • Brandt has a 25-game goal and point-scoring streak dating back to April 22 of last season at Brown.
 
25 • Miles had a 25-game multi-point scoring streak that ended April 7 when she was held to a goal at Yale; she has hit for multiple points in every game since then, so call it 33 of the last 34.
 
39/43 • Miles has scored in 39 straight games dating back to May 1, 2022 against Columbia, and has a point in 43 straight games dating back to April 9, 2022 at Cornell.
 
113 • DCs by Miles this season, a program record.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*When the All-Ivy teams were announced two weeks ago, Penn was well-represented. Senior Izzy Rohr was voted Ivy League Defender of the Year for the second straight season and was one of three unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections from Penn along with senior attacker Niki Miles and junior middie Anna Brandt. Senior Aly Feeley also received a first-team nod. Senior defender Sophie Davis was a second-team selection, while junior attacker Erika Chung and senior goalie Kelly Van Hoesen both got honorable mention recognition.
 
*Brandt, Rohr and Van Hoesen then earned all-tournament at the Ivy League Tournament, Brandt after she tied ILT records for goals in a game (8) and across a single tournament (12), Van Hoesen after she made 10 saves in the tournament final, and Rohr after she caused six turnovers across the two games.
 
*Currently on the program's all-time lists: Miles is fourth in career goals (135), sixth in career points (194), and 10th in career assists (59); Brandt is third in career goals (135) and 15th in career points (142); Chung is fourth in career assists (92).
 
*Currently on the program's single-season lists: Brandt is second in goals (55) and 16th in points (59); Chung is third in assists (51) and t-14th in points (60), Miles is t-5th in goals (54) and t-6th in points (76).
 
*The Quakers are led by four captains this season: Miles, Rohr, Maria Themelis, and Morgan Smith.
 
*Head coach Karin Corbett is in her 25th season at the helm and coached her 400th game at Penn on April 27. The coach for 12 of Penn's 14 Ivy titles and a two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year—the honor has only been given since 2015—she has been head coach for 269 of the program's 422 wins.
 
*As part of her 118-43 Ivy League regular season record at Penn, Corbett is 97-15 (.866) since the 2007 season. That includes 36 straight wins from 2006-11, tied for the longest win streak in league history with Harvard (1987-93).
 
*Of note, Corbett's 118 Ivy League regular-season wins are tied for second in conference history with Dartmouth's Amy Patton (118 from 1993-2016), behind only Princeton's Chris Sailer (183 from 1987-2022). Additionally, her 12 Ivy League titles are second all-time behind Sailer (16), and her seven outright titles are behind only Harvard's Carole Kleinfelder (9 from 1980-2003).
 
For the latest on Penn women's lacrosse, follow @PennWomensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.