PHILADELPHIA – The No. 10 University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team steps into May this weekend with what the Quakers hope is a weekend in New England. The Red and Blue is the third seed for this weekend's Ivy League Tournament, which is being hosted by top seed and regular-season champion Yale. Penn will face Princeton in Friday's first semifinal at 4 p.m., followed by the Bulldogs and Harvard at 7. The winners meet Sunday in the ILT final at noon.
 
GAME 16 – (3) PENN (11-3, 5-2 Ivy League) vs. (2) PRINCETON (10-5, 6-1)
Ivy League Tournament semifinal
Friday, May 3, 2024 | 4 p.m.
New Haven, Conn. | Reese Stadium
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
 
Penn in the Ivy League Tournament
*Penn has played in all but one Ivy League Tournament since the event began in 2010, missing out in 2022. The Quakers are tied with their semifinal opponent, Princeton, for the most ILT appearances as both make their 12th this weekend.
 
*Penn has made the final a league-high nine times in those 11 appearances, winning four titles (2010, 13, 14, 23) and losing five other times (2012, 15, 16, 18, 19).
 
*This is just the second time Penn has been the third seed at the ILT; the other was 2019. The Quakers have been the top seed and host six times and the second seed four times.
 
The Series with Princeton
*Friday's semifinal game will be the 57th meeting between the Quakers and the Tigers in women's lacrosse, with Princeton owning a 30-23-3 lead in a series that dates back to 1974.
 
*The Tigers hosted and won the regular-season meeting this season, 14-9. Anna Brandt led Penn with three goals that night.
 
*Friday's semifinal meeting pits the two programs that have won the most Ivy League titles (Princeton 16, Penn 14). In fact, this marks the first year the Quakers and/or Tigers have not won at least a share of the Ivy title since 2006.
 
*Perhaps not surprisingly, Penn has played Princeton more than any other team in the ILT; Friday will be their eighth meeting and their fourth in a semifinal.
  2010 SEMI: (1) Penn 13, (4) Princeton 9
  2011 SEMI: (4) Princeton 10, (1) Penn 8 (ot)
  2014 FINAL: (2) Penn 9, (1) Princeton 6
  2015 FINAL: (1) Princeton 14, (2) Penn 11
  2017 SEMI: (3) Princeton 17, (2) Penn 8
  2018 FINAL: (1) Princeton 13, (2) Penn 10
  2019 FINAL: (1) Princeton 13, (3) Penn 9
 
Penn in the National Stats (team)
As of Monday, April 29…
*7th in scoring defense (8.33)
*10th in CTs per game (10.60)
*20th in DC percentage (.580)
*17th in shots per game (33.13)
*19th in scoring margin (+4.33)
*23rd in free-position percentage (.514)
 
Penn in the National Stats (players)
*Senior goalie Kelly Van Hoesen is fifth in goals-against average (8.25).
 
*Senior Niki Miles in 10th in free position percentage (.700) and 18th in free position goals per game (0.93).
 
*Junior Erika Chung is 19th in assists per game (2.43).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn enters the ILT tenth in the IWLCA national poll and 15th in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll.
 
*Perhaps more importantly, Penn enters the tournament weekend with its ranking still a robust fourth (tops among Ivy teams) in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
 
*When the All-Ivy teams were announced on Tuesday, 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.
 
*Penn had won 11 Ivy League regular-season games in a row going back to the 2022 season, before dropping back-to-back games at Princeton (14-9) and Yale (16-8) on April 3 and April 7. That included an undefeated 7-0 campaign last year when the Quakers won their 14th Ancient Eight title.
 
*The Red and Blue then defeated Harvard and Yale to win the Ivy League Tournament, earning the league's NCAA Championship automatic bid. In its 16th NCAA appearance, Penn beat UConn in the first round and gave eventual finalist Boston College all it could handle in the second round before falling, 9-7.
 
*Last year's Ivy League Attacker of the Year, Miles has picked up where she left off in 2023, leading Penn with 44 goals and 63 points. She has racked up 16 points in Penn's last three Ivy games, with five at Cornell (3g/2a), a season-high seven vs. Brown (5g/2a), and four last Saturday at Dartmouth (2g/2a).
 
*Miles has a goal-scoring streak of 35 games (started 5/1/22 vs. Columbia) and a point-scoring streak of 39 games (started 4/9/22 at Cornell).
 
*Miles had a multi-goal and multi-point streak of 25 games, dating back to last season (started 3/11/23 at Jacksonville), that was snapped April 7 at Yale when she was held to a goal; she has since gone for multiple goals and multiple points in all four games since then.
 
*Miles also leads the team with 76 draw controls and had just the fifth double-figure game in program history in that category on March 24 with 10 against Harvard. She is followed by Brandt (50) and Feeley (41).
 
*Brandt—last year's Ivy League Midfielder of the Year as a sophomore—is second behind Miles in goals, with 41, and has multiple goals and multiple points in Penn's last 12 games including four goals each against Cornell and Loyola
 
*Chung set a program record two weeks ago, dishing out eight assists in Penn's 19-13 win over Brown. She leads the Quakers with 34 assists.
 
*Chung reached the 100-point mark last week, becoming the 28th player in program history to reach the milestone and joining teammates Miles and Brandt In that elite club.
 
*Currently on the program's all-time lists: Miles is sixth in career goals (125) and career points (181) and 10th in career assists (56); Brandt is eighth in career goals (119) and t-20th in career points (125); Chung is sixth in career assists (75).
 
*Currently on the program's single-season lists: Chung is eighth in assists (34), Miles is t-9th in goals (44) and 11th in points (63), and Brandt is t-14th in goals (41).
 
*Junior Keeley Block was Penn's second-leading scorer and honorable mention All-Ivy recognition as a freshman in 2022; she is back after missing all of last season due to injury. The junior has multiple points in 11 games, multiple goals in eight, and has had at least four points in each of Penn's last three games including a season-high five last Saturday at Dartmouth.
 
*Freshman Catherine Berkery has 27 goals and has hit for multiple goals in four of the last five games; she already has 12 multi-point and nine multi-goal games this season.
 
*Defensively, seniors Davis and Rohr lead Penn and go first and third in the Ivy League in caused turnovers, with 26 and 24, followed by senior Grace Fujinaga (20) and Feeley (19). Junior Natasha Gorriaran (17), Brandt (13), and Miles (10) also are in double digits in that category.
 
*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 will coach her 400th game at Penn on Saturday. 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 265 of the program's 418 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.