I don’t claim to know much about women’s lacrosse, or lacrosse in general, but here are a few quick thoughts…
–Women’s lacrosse frequently gets knocked for being a dull, watered down version of the real game. I can’t speak to that, but what I will say is that at an elite level, women’s lacrosse is a highly entertaining game to watch. Sure, it’s less physical than the men’s game, but that really places a premium on each possession, creating more excitement.
–Penn’s patience on both ends of the ball and carefully thought-out, methodical attacks put the Quakers over the edge tonight. The leadership and coaching for Penn is outstanding. Down 6-4 as time began to wind down in the second half, the Red and Blue could have easily started to panic and stray from their game plan. Instead, the Quakers became even more focused on executing their strategy. They didn’t rush anything and waited for the right shots, as they have done all season long. You can’t say enough about the maturity of this group.
–Penn athletes and fans alike frequently complain that the DP is overly critical of the school’s sports teams. I would like to take this opportunity to spread the word (this is “The Buzz,” after all) to the six of you that are still keeping up with this blog over the summer to tune into CBS College Sports at 7 on Sunday. If you can make it down to Towson, even better. It is very rare for a Penn sports team to have a chance to capture a national championship, so the women’s lacrosse team deserves all the support we can give it right now. This particular program, under the careful guidance of Karin Brower, has progressed immensely in the past few years to become a true national powerhouse, proving all of the naysayers wrong along the way. A win on Sunday would go down as one of the greatest wins in the storied history of Penn Athletics, and regardless of the outcome, it will be a monumental day for Penn.
So 7 pm, Sunday, before the Lakers game, watch Penn make its bid for a national championship against the current women’s lacrosse dynasty that is Northwestern (which Penn knocked off a few weeks ago). As I’m sure Zach will explain shortly, this game has all the storylines for a Penn women’s lacrosse game you could possibly want. If you don’t get CBS College Sports, keep up with the game here or on Penn Athletics. And spread the word. You don’t have to be a lacrosse fan or know much about the game to appreciate it. Trust me, I don’t know much, but it’s easy to follow. As far as I’m concerned, this is a time for the entire Penn community, DP included, to rally behind the best sports team at the school right now on the biggest stage of all. Go Quakers!
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May 24th, 2008 at 7:36 am
When was the last time a Penn team in any sport won the national championship? Women’s squash in the early 80’s?
May 24th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Good question, I’ll try to find some time to look into it. Obviously Penn has had individual national champions in team sports recently — wrestler Matt Valenti immediately comes to mind. I also know from my freshmen year of covering fencing that the Penn women fencing team took home the national title in 1986.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Newspaper article this morning says that Penn has had five national titles–women’s squash in 2000, women’s fencing in 1986, and men’s fencing in 1953, 1969, and 1981.
May 24th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
One thing to keep in mind, women’s squash is not an NCAA sport technically. So if the laxers win tomorrow, it will be the first team sport that a Penn team has won. I wouldn’t count fencing since it’s an individual sport that has a team championship. Call it semantics, but I’d say it’s slightly different than a “team sport” like lacrosse.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
The answer is that Penn’s only NCAA national championships have come in fencing, with the last one being in 1986. This is the first time that a team sport for Penn has ever made it to a national championship — in the past, women’s lacrosse, men’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, and field hockey have made to the semifinals. Thanks to Mike Mahoney for the info.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
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