M. Lax is ready for Leopards

The 14th-ranked Penn men's lacrosse team faces historical victim Lafayette at home on Franklin Field today. Judging by the national standings, a Penn men's lacrosse fan might think the 14th-ranked Quakers are looking ahead to upcoming contests with such powerhouses as No. 12 Princeton and No. 16 Cornell. But ask senior Jeff Zuckerman and the midfielder will tell you that as far as he is concerned, the biggest game on Penn's schedule occurs today on Franklin Field, against the Lafayette Leopards. According to Zuckerman, it is this one-game-at-a-time outlook that has propelled the Quakers to a 4-1 record, 1-0 in the Ivy League. "I think what we've tried to do and what is different about this year is we've kept the big picture out of play. It's been a key to our success," Zuckerman said. "Right now, the biggest game on the schedule is Lafayette and we're not going to worry about who is coming up on the weekend. We'll worry about that at around 9:00 tomorrow night." If Lafayette were truly the toughest challenge Penn would face this year and if the past were any indication, the Quakers would have a pretty manageable season ahead. Since their first meeting with the Leopards in 1927, the Quakers have compiled a 32-5 lifetime record against Lafayette. Penn is 5-0 against the Leopards since the teams resumed play after a 22-year break between 1971 and 1993. Penn goalkeeper Matt Schroeder made a big contribution to last year's win, stopping 21 shots en route to a 16-4 victory over the Leopards. This season, Schroeder has maintained his success in net. His 15-save performance against Yale last Saturday earned the Quaker Ivy League Player of the Week honors. In addition, he was named ECAC Goalie of the Week yesterday. "As long as the team is winning, I'll take the award," Schroeder said. "They don't mean as much when we're losing but this one felt good." The Quakers have never lost to Lafayette with Schroeder in goal. "They have some good athletes but they don't have a ton of depth," the Penn senior said. "We've beaten them basically every year, usually by a few goals." But according to Zuckerman, just as the Quakers cannot focus too heavily on the future, they also cannot rely on past performances. "We've pretty much prepared for them as we've done for every team," Zuckerman said. "It doesn't matter what we've done with them in the past. We're only interested about tomorrow and being successful tomorrow. "Success will come from doing the same thing that we've done no matter who we're playing -- watching game films, scouting them real hard, trying to become familiar with what they're going to try to do and how we're going to counterattack that." Past performance may actually be a poor means for predicting today's outcome as the the Quakers have certainly distinguished themselves from the squad that journeyed to Easton, Pa., last season. Penn's four victories to date equal its win total from the 1998 season. "Everyone is just playing a lot better this year," Schroeder said. "The attitudes are different and we're all out there playing for the same goal." "We know what we want and we're going after it pretty hard," Schroeder said. "Last year, we didn't realize that we had to earn it every game. This year we understand that people aren't just going to hand us anything." "I think we're just going to try to come out with the same intensity that we had [against Yale] and try to be as sharp as possible," Zuckerman said of today's game. "Hopefully we'll put the ball in the back of the net and also play some strong team defense."

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