For Ward and M. Lax, the end is near

One of the men's lacrosse all-time greats, attackman John Ward, finishes his college career against Yale and Princeton. For one of the greatest lacrosse players to ever wear a Pennsylvania jersey, John Ward's final season will be remembered for something different than his first three. Ward, known to be one of the best premier goal scorers in the Ivy League, has not had the stellar season everyone had expected. In making his final statement to the collegiate lacrosse world, Ward and the Quakers (4-7, 1-3 Ivy League) travel to Yale (3-9, 1-4) Sunday night, followed by a Tuesday evening visit to Princeton (8-1, 4-0) the two-time defending National Champions. The 1997 first team All-Ivy member could blame his lower numbers on a change in the line-up, a nagging right hamstring or the bad breaks the team has received all season. Instead, Ward has tried to keep the team focused as a cohesive unit through their tough season. "Maybe this year has been a little disappointing for John, but you couldn't tell that by talking to him by the way he handles himself and keeps coming out trying to pick everybody else up," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "I think he has given us whatever he has had." Coming into the season Ward was tied for first on the all-time goal scoring and sixth in all-time points for Penn. With 16 goals and 15 assists this season, Ward has moved up to third with 175 points and has sole position of goals with 125. This season's 1.45 goal's per game is far below last season's school record of three per contest. This year Ward became an obvious target for teams to plan their defenses around. The veteran has made some adjustments but has focused on improving the same things as in previous years "I am not a real multi-directional player," Ward said. "I am not going to change directions. I have one move and that is pretty much it: I go. If teams can scout that out, it changes my role a lot. I am perfectly content with that." Ward's injury has affected his play in the past three or four games. The hamstring pull has hampered Ward's offensive numbers by not allowing him to use his normal aggressive moves. Recovering well since last weekend, this Saturday Ward should feel the best he has in the past month. "For a big strong guy he has great take-off," Van Arsdale said. "His acceleration is what gets him to the goal and how he becomes such a good dodger. He can't do that now." Last season ended with the departure Jon Cusson, who was often on the giving end of many of Ward's goals. Cusson finished his career ranked in the top 11 career leaders in assists, goals and points at Penn, including 78 goals and 77 assists. The responsibility of filling those shoes was given to freshman Todd Minerley. "I was really excited about playing with John and Pete [Janney]," Minerley said. "As a unit I think that we have played as well as we could have. When I made those rookie mistakes John told me never to get my head down. As I look back on the year, I couldn't have had a better time with these guys and everyone else on the team. The ball just didn't roll our way this year." In winning two Ivy League rookie of the week honors so far this season, Minerley has no longer been asked to fill in for anyone. "Over the last couple of weeks, Todd has matured more," Van Arsdale said. "He is more the quarterback for us on the field, event though he is a freshman." Sophomore attack Janney, Ward's heir apparent, has learned a lot playing with the honorable mention All-American. Not until recently has Janney, a pure scorer in his own right and last year's Ivy League rookie of the year, thought about life at the attack without Ward. "John is a natural leader," Janney said. "Being able to play with an All-American has been a great experience. I have been thinking about the future a lot lately. Between Todd and myself, we already have a lot of experience. We have two more years together and plan on leading the team to better things." Coming into the two final games of the season, the Quakers find themselves at the Ivy League cellar along with Yale and Dartmouth. Last season, the Quakers' had little problem in defeating the Elis 18-9. This season, Yale has made drastic improvements to their defense, allowing only five of their opponents to reach double figures in points. "Yale gave us a really tough game for the first half," Princeton coach Bill Tierney, whose team defeated the Elis 16-5, said. "We scored a couple of early goals in the second half and were able to get away from them. They have some good players, and are playing pretty tough as of late." Yale has also had more of a problem breaking down opposing teams' defenses. Reaching double figures only once, the Elis defeated 16th-ranked Rutgers 11-10. "They are a team that has a real strong pitching staff and not a whole lot of home run hitters," Van Arsdale said. "They play some strong team defense, but they are not really explosive on the offensive end." The final match and most anticipated of the year comes against the second-ranked team in the nation, Princeton. Earlier this season, Virginia ended Princeton's 29-game win streak. With the addition of a healthy Jon Hess at the attack, the Tigers are making their final adjustment for the run for their three-peat. "Through all of the ups and downs that we have had, our midfielders are now playing well," Tierney said. "Our defense has been the consistent part all year long. With our middies scoring and our attack with John back to full health, we are playing much more consistently and are shooting the ball a little bit better." In the past four years the team has made gradual improvements. Ward has enjoyed the ride, and hopes that the team will carry it on for years to come. "No matter what our final record is this year, no matter what stats you look at, this program is on its way up," Ward said. "I am proud to say that things were going up when I left here."

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