At halftime of Saturday's men's lacrosse game, it appeared Penn had the Brown Bears right where it wanted them. Quaker coach G.W. Mix had said before the game Penn needed to hold the explosive Brown offense to single-digit goals. And leading 7-4 at intermission, Penn was on its way to doing just that. But as the sun finally began to peek its way from behind the clouds at Franklin Field, the Quaker floodgates opened up. Penn surrendered nine second-half goals -- six in the fourth quarter -- as it fell to 10th-ranked Brown, 13-9. The Quakers (4-5, 1-4 Ivy League) have lost four times this season to teams ranked in the Top 20 in the nation. Penn still clung to a one-goal lead, 8-7, entering the final quarter. But Brown scored twice in the first two minutes of the fourth, grabbing its first advantage since leading 3-2 early in the first half. If the Quakers had any thoughts of a comeback, they were quickly extinguished by Brown's next two goals. The Bears took a 10-8 lead on a shot from just inside midfield into an empty net. "We didn't ride well," senior captain Steve Marks said. "We play a 10-man zone. Most people play a soft zone. We play an aggressive zone to try to get the ball back and once in awhile they'll score on it." The Brown onslaught continued when sophomore attacker David Evans' shot hit the post and trickled slowly backward into the goal before Penn goalie Steve Bassford could locate the ball. After having trailed by as many as three goals, the Bears suddenly held a commanding 11-8 lead. Penn's success in the first half was predicated on controlling the ball and keeping it away from the Brown offense. The Quakers displayed good patience and were content to let the clock run as long as they had the lead. Sophomore attacker Andy Crofton paced Penn with three goals and a pair of assists. "I thought that our offense did a great job in the first half of taking care of the ball and not forcing the issue," Mix said. "It enabled us to play less defense than we did in the second half. We knew that if we had to play a lot of defense we would be in trouble." Penn's defense did play well in the first half, particularly Bassford. The sophomore goalie was like a wall, making several brilliant saves and giving up only four goals before the intermission. But the same defense was simply overwhelmed in the second half. The Bears were able to control the ball and keep almost constant pressure on the Penn goal. Bassford would come up big with one save only to have the rebound wind up in Brown's hands for second and third shots. "Brown played around the crease well," Bassford said. "A lot of times on hard shots its tough to keep control of the ball. I'd make saves and there would be a rebound and they would be the ones that would pick it up and dump it in the goal." In the second half, the Penn offense was unable to control the ball like it had earlier. Brown senior midfielder Gary Nelson won nearly every faceoff, giving the Bears possession even after scoring. And in control of the ball, Brown's explosive attackers were finally unleashed. Evans and Jeffrey Iserson led the Bears with four goals apiece. "We played perfect defense in the first half and it's impossible to play perfect defense for an entire game," senior captain Paul Duncan said. "Their faceoff guy won practically every faceoff so we played defense for the entire half." "In the first half when we were controlling the ball on offense, we were playing well defensively and they were giving our defensemen time to rest," Marks said. "But then, they're 10th in the country, and when you don't have any time to rest, they're going to score on you."
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