Syracuse may be M. Lax's toughest foe yet

The Quakers will try to pull off an upset when they face the No. 4 Orangemen. Even though the Penn men's lacrosse team can do nothing to erase its disappointing six losses this season or its probable exclusion from postseason action, there is still one way that the Quakers (6-6) can make their season memorable. If they beat Syracuse (6-2) on the road tomorrow, the Quakers will accomplish more than just defeating the fourth-ranked team in the country. They will also bring home a victory that no Penn lacrosse team has been able to deliver since 1919. "We have a crew of nine that is kind of realizing that this is the end of our college careers," Penn senior Mark Kleinknecht said. "And maybe things didn't go as well as we wanted for the season but we want to finish out strong. Beating Syracuse is certainly a way to do that. "If we can come out playing the way that we know we can, we can pull off something great and be really excited as we come off the season." In 1919, the Quakers beat the Orangemen, 2-1. Since then, Syracuse has rattled off a 21-0-1 mark against Penn. Last year, the Quakers played well in a 13-9 loss at Franklin Field to a 'Cuse team that ultimately reached the NCAA Final Four. That's hardly a telling fact, however, as Syracuse has been to every Final Four since 1983, winning six championships. At this point in the season, the fundamentals are in place for the Quakers as they have practiced their shooting and ground balls for months. Thus, what may be the deciding factor in whether the Quakers beat Syracuse is their attitude after losing to Villanova on Tuesday. "I would liken this game to the Princeton game, even though that turned out to be a loss," Van Arsdale said, referring to Penn's 9-8 loss to the Tigers on April 6. "We were able to come off a real disappointing Saturday game [against Cornell] and then turn around and play well on a Tuesday." After dropping a close 10-9 contest with the Big Red on April 3, Penn dominated the first half of the Princeton game, leading 7-3 at halftime before ultimately falling to the Tigers. As a result, Van Arsdale said he feels Tuesday's loss to Villanova may actually help Penn's cause against the Orangemen at the Carrier Dome. In looking ahead to the game, he noted that the Quakers may benefit from the post-loss determination that has characterized them in the past. A repeat performance of the intensity the Quakers demonstrated against Princeton will certainly be beneficial, if not necessary, when facing the heavily favored Orangemen. "We didn't have enough time to focus on what happened so instead we just got excited about playing somebody else," Van Arsdale said. "Hopefully, the disappointing loss [to Villanova] will be a real trick for us on Saturday." Something else that could work to the Quakers' advantage is another psychological phenomenon known as "social facilitation," whereby people perform better on well-learned tasks in the presence of an audience. Van Arsdale reported that the Carrier Dome is a site where "you're usually talking about between 5,000 and 10,000 people watching." This could prove especially important to Penn's Kevin Cadin, a Syracuse native. "I'm looking forward to going home. It should be a lot of fun up there," the sophomore said. "I'll have a lot of family there since I only live a couple minutes away from where we're playing." Of course, the flipside to social facilitation is that when a team is outmatched, the crowd can cause nervousness to ensue. Such crowd-induced anxiety is the last thing the Quakers can afford if Syracuse goes with its typical strategy, according to Van Arsdale. "They play a really fast-paced game and they try to get you into a frenetic state," he said. "It's important that we stay calm and poised so that when we possess the ball, we can be patient on offense."

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