SPORTS BRIEFS: Monday, March 2, 1998

M. Lacrosse wins first game vs. St. Joseph's "We weren't quite as sharp as we would have liked to have been, but we did play a team that I thought was very excited to play against us," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "It was good for us to get one under our belt under game-like intensity." Ward's 110th all-time goal as a Quaker broke the previous record set by Andy Crofton, who played with the Red and Blue from 1993 through '96. The Penn senior attackmen also dished three assists, a part of his game the team will depend on as the season progresses. Penn middies Jeff Zuckerman (4 goals, 2 assists), Joe Mauro (3g, 3a) and Mike Kehoe (3g) added another dimension to the Quakers' offense, which has not been apart of the team in recent years. "One of the things that I think we need to do this year to take ourselves a step further than last year is to get more offensive production out of the midfield," Van Arsdale said. "On a day when our attack was not having its best day, it was good to see those guys establish themselves offensively." Penn's defense got off to a rough start in its execution of clearing the ball. The Quakers' defense did finally settle and held St. Joe's star attackmen Billy Oaks and Drew Scott to a combined one goal and zero assists. Also making large contributions were attackmen Pete Janney (3g, 2a) and Todd Minerly (3g, 1a), along with goalie Matt Schroeder (19 saves). "Schroeder was terrific for us in the first half when we needed to get our legs under us and start establishing ourselves on the offensive end," Van Arsdale said. "Matt shut the door and controlled the ball well with his passing. He set a real strong tone for us at that end early in the game." Finding themselves in the same place as last season, standing at 1-0 after a win in the opener against the Hawks, Penn will have a week to prepare for a tough Navy team that brought them back down to .500 in Game 2 last season, with a hard-fought 9-8 win. -- Marc Chodock