M. Lax ready for Harvard

The high-scoring 14th-ranked Quakers visit a Harvard squad depleted by graduation. As the Penn men's lacrosse team nears the halfway point of the season, it seems as if everything has gone right. Tomorrow at Harvard, 14th-ranked Penn will seek to continue its three-game winning streak. Penn (5-1, 1-0 Ivy League) will face a Crimson team that is remarkably different from the squad it saw last season. This year, Harvard (1-2, 0-0) returns only one senior, team captain and defenseman Ethan Oberman. The loss of several key players to graduation represented 73 percent of last year's scoring. The turnover has given a different look to Harvard -- one that may favor Penn this weekend. "Harvard is not nearly as dynamic offensively as they've been after having some of the best players in the league last year," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "They're an energetic team but still sort of searching for its identity. "However, they're also an athletic and fast team and they have some very good personnel on defense." On the other hand, Penn enters the upcoming contest with the best overall record among Ivy League teams. Strong team play is the overarching reason for the current success. "We're more cohesive as a unit," Penn senior defender Brett Bodner said. "We're communicating a lot better than we have in the past, and everyone knows their role." In particular, Bodner cited defensive midfielders Michael Kehoe and Shave Lavery. Van Arsdale also credits the two with the team's success in the transition game. "They're two of our fastest kids and two of our best athletes," Van Arsdale said. "Kehoe played a lot more on the offensive end last year so we can take advantage of his speed. And Lavery is much more confident and fit this year after making last year's conversion from goalie to midfield." In front, Penn attacker Pete Janney leads the Ivy League with 18 goals. Quakers attacker Todd Minerley is second in the conference with 14 goals and 12 assists. Penn has even got a freshman -- attacker Peter Scott -- among the Ivy leaders with 13 points on the year. In addition, the last line of defense has again proved solid for the Quakers. Penn goaltender Matt Schroeder is the latest Ivy League Player of the Week after compiling a 6.44 goals against average. Those numbers include a 14-7 win over No. 11 North Carolina and a 12-8 loss to No. 10 Navy. "There's always room for improvement but right now Matt's doing a great job in net," Bodner said. The most dramatic increase in quality of play during this campaign has taken place on defense. That was made evident last Saturday by the low number of open looks the Quakers allowed Yale in a defensive battle that turned into a five-goal Penn win. With the same lineup this year as last, the Quakers' improvement on defense is not personnel related. "We're not that dramatically different personnel-wise," Van Arsdale said. "But, we are playing just better team lacrosse all around. To a large extent, there is a great resolve on this team, most evident with the seniors who have given us great leadership." Despite its rough start, Harvard will try to even its record at .500 after picking up its first win over Boston College, 12-6, in a rescheduled game. This will be the first Ivy League contest for the Crimson as they kick off their league schedule against the the offensive machine that is the Quakers. "They have a lot of really good athletes on the team," Bodner said. "We just need to get up on them early. They have a couple of young guys so we'll have too see how [applying early pressure] affects them."