Penn women advance in NCAA lacrosse tourney

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - After not seeing the ball well all afternoon, Penn goalie Lucy Ferguson made the biggest save of the game.

With the last seconds ticking off the clock in overtime, Albany's Sarah Martin fired a point-blank shot that Ferguson speared out of the air. Ferguson paused for a second, the ball resting in the pocket of her stick. Then she clenched her fists as her teammates streamed onto the field, celebrating the Quakers' (14-5, 6-1 Ivy League) 11-10 victory over the Great Danes (14-5, 5-1) at the SU Soccer Stadium on Friday.

The win ended Albany's season and pushes Penn into a second-round matchup with top-flight Syracuse on Sunday.

"I mean pretty much bliss once you see that I can just hold it out," Ferguson said of the last save. "So I was just really happy about that and really happy to get the win today."

Freshman midfielder Alex Condon gave Penn the advantage at the draw circle, where the Quakers won 17-of-25 draws.

When the Great Danes did control possession, Penn's aggressiveness forced them into mistakes. The Quakers took 28 shots to Albany's 16.

"I thought we did a good job on getting out on their primary feeder [Keggins]," Penn head coach Karin Corbett said. "And then stopping a lot of the really creative cutting that they do."

The Penn offense was paced by four goals from Lely DeSimone and a Tory Bensen hat trick.

And after Condon gained possession to start the first overtime period, it was DeSimone who charged down the left alley and scored the decisive goal.

Three minutes and 27 seconds later, the game ended in Ferguson's hands.

"[Ferguson]'s a great player. She's had amazing games this whole year," DeSimone said. "And the most important save she was able to get us basically. That's the most important thing to look at."