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Men's Lacrosse vs. Yale Credit: Imran Cronk , Imran Cronk

For the Bock family, Penn lacrosse is tradition.

Star sophomore Isaac Bock is the third Bock to represent the Quakers on the men’s lacrosse team. Preceded by father and 1974 College graduate Jon Bock as well as brother and 2012 College graduate Jacob Bock, Isaac has become a central piece of the Red and Blue offense, ranking second on the team with 15 goals so far this season.

For Jacob and Isaac, lacrosse has been in their lives since they were kids.

“They had lacrosse sticks in their cribs,” Jon said.

Isaac’s lifetime of preparation has paid off this season, with goal after goal coming in huge moments for the Quakers, such as his game-tying goal against Yale a few Saturdays ago to push the game into overtime.

Against Brown last Saturday, Bock’s hat trick helped spark the Quakers to a 10-3 rout of the Bears, his fourth three-plus goal effort of the season.

It’s been a remarkable transition for the curly-haired sophomore.

Last year, as a freshman with a hurting back, Isaac only scored one goal all season.

“I think it’s just confidence more than anything,” he said. “Being here for a year makes it a lot better and I think our new system allows more guys to score more often.”

“[Bock] is a very skilled, athletic, smart lacrosse player,” coach Mike Murphy added.

“[Being] healthy and adjusting to the speed and pace has helped him to step up as an offensive leader for us.”

The Bock brothers’ careers overlapped for one year of play, an experience neither will ever forget.

“He’s my best friend and playing with him has always been really enjoyable for me, so having that experience last year was really special for the both of us,” Jacob said.

Some parents pressure their children into doing what they loved and those children end up miserable as a result of being stuck doing something they don’t love.

The Bocks are anything but one of those families. Under the tutelage of father Jon, both Isaac and Jacob had complete freedom to blaze their own trails.

“[It] was very important to me that they neither felt pressured to be lacrosse players nor that they felt pressured to go to the University,” Jon said.

“It’s really cool for [Jon] to be able to see us both last year on the field representing the university that he cares so much about,” Jacob said. “He never pressured us to go here, but I think the fact that both of us chose to play for his alma mater is very special to him.”

For Jacob, the choice to come to Penn was obvious.

“I’ve had a singular goal in life since sixth grade and that was to play lacrosse at the University of Pennsylvania,” he said. “When I was in sixth grade, the former coach, coach Brian Voelker, brought my brother and myself into the locker room after the Penn-Princeton game and introduced us to some of the players and at that moment I knew the only thing I wanted to do was play for Penn.”

For Isaac, the choice was also clear.

“I really liked what coach Murphy had to say when I came and visited, I thought that he is a good coach to play for,” he said. “[Plus] my family history and getting a chance to play with my brother and where my dad played was a huge deciding factor in my coming here.”

For the Bock family, love of family has extended itself out to a love of both lacrosse and Penn.

“Of all the places they could have chosen, it’s not somewhere that I ever anticipated when I moved here [to Colorado] that my children would ever choose to go,” Jon said. “It just makes me tremendously proud.”

SEE ALSO

Penn men’s lacrosse dominates Brown, 10-3

Penn men’s lacrosse to face familiar foe

Penn men’s lacrosse sees late comeback falls short in overtime

Men’s lacrosse looks to rebound against Yale

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