M. Lax overwhelms Mountaineers

In a match that was over shortly after it began, Penn put together its most dominating performance of the young season in a 19-5 blasting of Mount St. Mary's. Mountaineers coach Tom Gravante's strategy of playing man-to-man defense against a vastly superior Quakers squad quickly turned ugly. After the first period, the Quakers (3-1) had an 8-1 lead; Gravante then decided to play zone. Just how lousy Mt. Saint Mary's (1-3) played in the first quarter can be epitomized by Penn's seventh goal of the quarter. Junior defender Ken O' Brien ran untouched from midfield right in front of the poor goalie, Jon Conrey, and whipped a shot pass him. Conrey, who gave a game effort last night, had to contend with a porous defense that let the Quakers' offense become a firing squad. "We came out with a lot of intensity and hustled a lot," Penn junior attacker Andy Crofton said. "They played hard tonight but were a little overmatched." Penn coach Terry Corcoran, who credited good ball movement to the team's success, made a key decision tonight when he moved freshman John Ward from midfield to attack for the game. Ward, a 6-foot-2 lefty who made a splash with three goals in the season opener against Michigan State, scored five goals this time. "That's why we put him there tonight," said rookie coach Corcoran, explaining Ward's move to attack. Said Ward: "Hey, wherever he puts me, it's not my decision." Everything Corcoran did seemed to work as his squad coasted to the finish. With the Quakers up 15-4 going into the fourth quarter, Corcoran started to play the subs. The Mountaineers were still outclassed as Penn racked up four more goals. With 4 minutes, 35 seconds left and his team behind 18-4, Gravante called time out in an apparent effort to regroup. But the 14-goal deficit was not going to be made up. In fact, the Mountaineers had great difficulty scoring against freshman Paul Burg, the Quakers' newly inserted goalie who is normally a midfielder. "I was a little nervous," Burg said about his collegiate goalie debut. But he did not show it as he made two fantastic saves down the stretch. In fact, when asked about the game, Corcoran mentioned Burg's performance before he talked about the shooting show put on by Ward, who scored his fifth goal midway into the fourth period after pinpoint passing around the net. Sophomore attacker Jon Cusson had a pretty assist. After Penn's 18th goal was announced by the public address announcer, a disgruntled Mount St. Mary's fan summed up the feeling on his side by shouting to the P.A. announcer, "Oh, shut up!" Penn mustered one final score to reach 19 for the day. The victory was assured long before. "I think every win is a big win even though it seemed we coasted through this game," Crofton said. "We want to win lacrosse games. That's why we're here."