M. Lax hopes to rebound against Big Green

No one was rooting for the Penn men's lacrosse team harder Wednesday than Dartmouth. A Quaker upset of No. 1 Princeton would have most likely left Penn ripe for an upset in Sunday's game against Dartmouth. Unfortunately for the Big Green, Penn's 19-7 loss sends an angry Quaker team heading north to Hanover, N.H., for revenge. And although Dartmouth is 5-1, the Big Green has not yet played an Ivy game. Although that should play into the hands of the No. 19 Quakers (4-3, 1-2 Ivy League), the long bus ride is a mitigating factor. "We've certainly been playing games at a higher level [than Dartmouth]," Penn coach G.W. Mix said. "Navy, Princeton, Harvard and Cornell -- that's a lot of hard games. But a seven-and-a-half hour bus ride isn't an advantage. That's a definite home-field advantage." For the Quakers, this game offers an opportunity to recover from the disappointment of Wednesday's loss. "We know we didn't play our best lacrosse against Princeton," sophomore midfielder Phil Perry said. "If we got out and play how we're capable, we'll be fine." And although the Big Green isn't considered a lacrosse power, overlooking Dartmouth could prove fatal, both in terms of the NCAA Tournament and the Ivy race. "Dartmouth has had some surprising wins this year," Perry said. "Like any Ivy team, we can't think any less of them just because they're Dartmouth." The surprising wins referred to by Perry include a 15-6 road victory over SUNY-Stony Brook and a 15-13 defeat of Colgate. Imperative for Penn is stopping the Big Green's high-powered attack duo of Tom Scott and Brendan Bowler. Scott has seven goals and six assists, and Bowler has eight goals and eight assists to lead the team in points. The weak points for Dartmouth show up clearly on the stat sheet -- complete domination by Dartmouth opponents on the "hustle stats." Dartmouth opponents have outhustled the Big Green on ground balls to the tune of 222-173, and Dartmouth has had trouble winning faceoffs, losing almost twice as many as it wins. Those weaknesses play right into the hands of Penn, which has had a distinct advantage in the ground ball and faceoff categories all season. The Quakers hold a 105-78 edge in faceoffs and a 291-261 edge in ground balls. Penn also has a respectable .321 shooting percentage. "We've got to dominate ground balls and control possession to beat them," Mix said. "They're going to be real excited to play us. They're much better than in years past." The Quakers will try to take advantage of this to avoid the streaky play that has been symptomatic this year. Penn has been excellent for short periods of time. However, these periods have always been followed by long droughts of less-than-sterling play. "We're a young team and those things are indicative of a young team," Perry said. "As we play together more, those things will start to go away." Penn will also have to play well on offense to beat Dartmouth goalie Ted Hazard. The sophomore has respectable stats, with a 11.67 GAA and a .488 save percentage. Leading the Quaker attack is sophomore Andy Crofton, who has 29 points on 15 goals and 14 assists. Freshman midfielder Andy Rodriguez also has amassed 15 goals and 17 points. Junior Alex Goodman has 17 points as well, on 10 goals and 7 assists. What all of this means is that what would normally be a game of lesser importance takes on added significance in the short Ivy schedule. "I don't think there are too many times we can look at our schedule and look at it as a rest," Mix said. "We're just really excited to play again and get back out there."

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