Box Score ANN ARBOR, Mich.  – The nationally ranked University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team fell on the road on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 15-8 battle to #7 Michigan.
 
Anna Brandt led the charge for #12 Penn in the top-15 clash, netting her third hat trick of the season to carry the offensive efforts.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers dominated the circle, leading Michigan in draw controls 20-6. Maggie Bankowski led the team with eight draw controls, closely followed by Natasha Gorriaran's seven.
 
*Goalkeeper Orly Sedransk was busy in the cage, stopping eight of 15 shots faced.
 
*Catherine Berkery, Keeley Block, Lela Greene, Gracie Smith, and Eden Welch round out Penn's scorers in the bout.
 
*The Red and Blue scored the most goals on UM this season, trailed by Yale, who netted six goals against the Wolverines back on February 15.
 
How It Happened
The Wolverines got to work early in the ranked battle, scoring not even 40 seconds in to take the lead. Michigan's defense held strong until the ten-minute mark when Taylor Cullen received a yellow card, allowing senior Brandt to net her 12th of the year to tie things at one with 9:03 left of the opening period on the player up.
 
Michigan tallied another yellow card with around seven minutes left of the first, but the Quakers could not complete the advantage. With 3:16 left of the quarter, the Wolverines regained the lead off a free position shot and added another to the board two minutes later to lead 3-1 heading into the second.
 
UM continued its offensive run to open the second, as Ava Class tallied her second of the outing at 13:35 to bump the lead to three goals. Three minutes later, Michigan scored its second of the period to extend its lead to 5-1 with 11:18 left of the first half. Goalkeeper Sedransk tallied back-to-back saves a few minutes later to help ground the defense, but the Wolverines capitalized on another free position with 7:52 on the board to bump the score to 6-1.
 
The Quakers finally slashed the run with 6:08 left of the second as senior Block scored Penn's first of the period. Freshman Sarah Kelley hit the back of the net two minutes later, but her goal was taken back after a review and ultimately landed a green card instead. Unfortunately, Michigan capitalized on the card and scored its fifth free position goal of the half to push the game to 8-2 to end the second period.
 
The second half opened with Michigan continuing its run with its third unanswered goal with 12:31 on the clock to lengthen the lead to seven. Shortly after, keeper Sedransk shifted the momentum, stopping the Wolverines' free position shot to help set up the offense, allowing sophomore Welch to accept a feed from Erika Chung to cut the run and lead to 9-3.
 
Freshman Greene kept the streak up for the Quakers, slamming one toward goalkeeper Erin O'Grady to push the score to 9-4 with 5:57 left of the third. The final four minutes of the third were busy, as UM scored back-to-back goals looking to wrap the period up, but senior Brandt tallied her second of the game off a scramble right as the period expired to put the battle at 11-5 heading into the fourth.
 
The final 15 minutes started with both defenses holding strong, but the Wolverines broke the scoring drought with back-to-back goals to bump their cushion to 13-5 with 8:41 left of the period.
 
With six minutes left of regulation, the Red and Blue tried to rally a comeback as senior Smith charged up the field off a Michigan blunder to tally her fifth of the year, followed by sophomore Berkery scoring on the player-advantage to bring Penn within six at 13-7 with 5:08 on the board.
 
Ultimately, UM did not go down silently, adding two more goals to its lead to negate midfielder Brandt's hat trick late in the fourth to take the ranked battle at 15-8.
 
Up Next
The Quakers (2-2) return to Franklin Field next weekend, opening Ivy League action against Dartmouth on Saturday, March 8, at noon.