Penn is pumped for Big Red

Penn tries for a second time to grab its first Ivy win when Cornell comes to town. The thrill of victory was short-lived for the Penn men's lacrosse team. Despite Wednesday's 16-4 rout at Lafayette, the Quakers (2-4, 0-1 Ivy League) were back at Franklin Field yesterday to prepare for the upcoming weekend home game against Cornell (2-3, 1-0). Under new head coach Dave Pietramala, the Big Red have not been terribly impressive by the numbers. Their current win-loss total is nothing to shout about, considering 16-5 and 6-3 wins against Colgate and Yale, respectively. Cornell sophomore goaltender Rich Yost has a .489 save percentage and a 9.31 goals against average. Yost has not faced formidable opposition so far, and has not reached the 60 percent plateau when shots have come his way. As an example of weak opponents, the Big Red rolled off four unanswered second period goals in a measly 6-3 neutral-site win against Yale. Now, the true test comes for Cornell. The upcoming match against Penn is the front end of two consecutive road games. Harvard (No. 17 in the USILA poll) lies at the other end of the northeast corridor swing. With no high expectations placed on the visitors, Penn goaltender Matt Schroeder is on the lookout for a spirited performance by the Big Red. "They have two or three guys who are going to take most of the shots and shoot whenever they have the chance," Schroeder said. "We've been up early sometimes when we've played them in the past, and they've shown the ability to come back. They're a veteran team, and have some strong defense." Cornell's attack is carried by two players, more concentrated than the offense the Quakers faced in the Ivy League opener loss to Harvard. Cornell midfielder and captain Pat Dutton is first on the squad with 13 goals, with senior attackman Matt Wise following suit at 11 goals. The Big Red will have to rely on good defense, facing a Penn team that has averaged 12 goals a game, versus nine per contest by Cornell. The Penn offense is led by rookie attackman Todd Minerly with 13 goals. Attackman Peter Janney and midfielder Joe Mauro are tied for second with 12 goals. Quakers attackman John Ward, who is fifth in career all-time points, is Penn's assist leader with 10. The Penn midfielders also have an edge over their Cornell counterparts. Junior Jeff Zuckerman and sophomore Billy Reidy have won 54 percent of faceoffs, better than the Big Red's 46 percent. One of the only matchups Cornell may have a fighting chance of winning is the battle between Penn's Minerly versus Cornell captain Glenn Minerly. The Big Red defenseman is third on his team in ground balls with 15. However, Cornell's Minerly has not started once this season, while his Penn counterpart has been in the opening lineup in all five Quakers games. In the Wednesday win against Lafayette, the Quakers played better all-around lacrosse, leading to more ball possession and control of the game. "Getting the ground balls, getting the ball up in transition and making sure everyone reacted quickly helped us," Schroeder said. "Defense played pretty strong and we were getting the ball out on the clears." The one task left to accomplish is coming out of the first period with a lead, something the Quakers have not achieved in almost a month. "It's always a concern how you're going to get out for the start," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "Maybe it is more of a concern this week since we are playing a team that will likely shorten the game if they get up on us by holding onto the ball and playing more of a slowdown pace." Last year, Penn broke an 18-game Ivy League losing streak by defeating the Big Red 11-7, highlighted by four goals during a 1:22 span in the second quarter. The Quakers, however, suffered one-goal losses in the two years prior to the 1997 win at Cornell. "Cornell has been a good rivalry for Penn for a lot of years," Van Arsdale said. "It's always been a close game. I think our guys should be ready to get up and it should be the first great day we have to play on weatherwise." In a literal sense, it will be warmer with temperatures approaching 80 degrees. The Quakers will need to get hot early if they want to continue gaining momentum with five Ivy League games remaining after this weekend.