M. Lax seniors to finish against Blue Hens

Penn's quartet of fourth-years will reach for a high note when they travel to delaware on Saturday. The Penn men's lacrosse team traveled to Newark, Del., and back last night, just to practice. Yesterday, the Quakers worked out at the University of Delaware's Rullo Stadium. On Saturday, the Quakers will return to face the Blue Hens in their season finale. "The Penn Relays sort of wreak havoc on other field sports around here," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "It actually worked out pretty well, though. [Rullo Stadium]'s a good facility to play in, and it doesn't hurt to get accustomed to where you're going to be playing Saturday night." Just knowing the field won't get Penn (5-8) past Delaware (8-5) this weekend, though. To beat the No. 15-ranked Blue Hens, the Quakers can't afford the extended lapses that have plagued them this year. "[The Blue Hens] are a good team," Van Arsdale said. "They still have their eyes on trying to win an NCAA berth. So we'll get a team that has some higher energy and will be juiced up." Though he's at the helm of a team that hasn't quite lived up to expectations this year, Van Arsdale welcomes the challenge of a nationally ranked opponent preparing itself for postseason play. "I think that's good for us right now," Van Arsdale said. "I'm glad that we're playing a quality team and that we have the opportunity to end the season on a positive note. It would be nice, on a lot of different fronts, to finish with a win against a good team." One of those fronts is giving the Red and Blue's four graduating seniors a final game they can relish long after graduation. "These four guys have all made strong contributions during all their years here," Van Arsdale said. "I think their performances will dictate a lot of how the game goes for us." Considering that the four seniors -- attackman Pete Janney, midfielders Billy Reidy and Mike Kehoe and defenseman Bill Fowler -- account for one-third of the Quakers' 189 points this season, their play will almost certainly determine whether or not the Quakers can win on Saturday. Leading the way in the scoring department is co-captain Janney, the Quakers' playmaker. If Janney scores six times on Saturday, he would be Penn's all-time record-holder in goals. "He's such a presence on the offensive end," Van Arsdale said. "I think every team we play pays special attention to Peter." Perhaps increased defensive attention is the reason that Janney -- with 23 goals -- hasn't yet matched his freshman total of 27, much less last year's 37 scores. "Maybe he hasn't put as many in the back of the net this year as he would've liked, or as we would've liked," Van Arsdale said. "But we've had a great four years here." Reidy and Kehoe have anchored the Quakers midfield all season. Reidy, coming off a season that was cut short by injury, has been one of the Quakers highlights this year. "Billy's comeback has been one of the more positive things with our team this year," Van Arsdale said. "He had always been a pretty good all-around midfielder, and this year he's added the scoring part of it to his game." Kehoe, while not the scoring middie that Reidy is, has played all over the field during his time as a Quaker. "Michael has been asked to do a lot of different things. His roles have sort of switched around," Van Arsdale said. "I expect Michael to really put out a lot on the field this weekend. He just seems like a guy that's intent on going out the right way." The Quakers seniors would probably have an even higher percentage of the team's total points were it not for co-captain Fowler, who hasn't scored this year because he's been too busy shadowing the opponent's No. 1 offensive player. "Billy has sort of been a silent, steady guy," Van Arsdale said. "His performance Saturday on [Syracuse attackman] Ryan Powell was as strong as I've seen, and Powell would be my bet to be the National Player of the Year. "I think the seniors want this. I think the last game is what you're going to remember, and it'd be nice to remember it for the good things."