Penn women advance to NCAA lacrosse quarterfinals

After an opening-round victory Friday in the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament, Penn coach Karin Brower Corbett said her main worry going forward was the Quakers defense. Well, she needn't worry any more.

Penn (15-4) held host Towson scoreless in the run of play for the first 56 minutes, 14 seconds, allowing only two free-position goals to beat the Tigers, 12-4, in a second-round game at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

The Quakers advanced to play Penn State (which upset second-seeded Florida, 14-13, in double overtime) in the quarterfinals next weekend at a time and place to be determined. The Final Four will be May 27 and 29 at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester.

Iris Williamson (Germantown Friends) led Penn with four goals, followed by Caroline Cummings with three.

The defense "set the tone for us," Brower Corbett said. "We had two defensive players out, and another [midfielder Alex Condon] out most of the game with two yellow cards. They really stepped up as a unit."

After Towson (16-4) scored on a free-position shot to cut the lead to 3-2 with 7:04 left in the first half, the Penn defense really clamped down. The Tigers didn't score again until leading scorer Kaitlyn Montalbano tallied with 3:46 left in the game. There was almost a 12-minute span in the second half when the Tigers didn't have a shot.

The Penn offense took over, scoring nine straight goals. Cummings scored the next two goals to run the score to 5-2 at the half, and Williamson tallied two of her own to start the second half.

Sarah Barcia scored to give Penn a 9-2 lead with 10:29 left, and Cummings, Emily Rogers-Healion, and Williamson added single tallies to give Penn a 12-2 lead before Towson scored the final two.

The victory marked the first time since 2009 that the Quakers have won two games in the tournament. They also earned their first NCAA road wins.

"I'm really proud of this team," said Brower Corbett. "We struggled with their zone the first time we played them [a 9-4 Penn win in March], and they studied hard on how to beat it. They really rose to the challenge today."