M. Lax eyes first Ivy win

Midfielder Adam Solow hopes for a happy homecoming as Penn heads to Dartmouth. Today, the Penn men's lacrosse team leaves for Hanover, N.H. Tomorrow, the Quakers (4-5, 0-4 Ivy League) will try to get off the Ivy schnide against Dartmouth (3-3, 0-0). And at least one of the Quakers will be on some very familiar turf. Junior midfielder Adam Solow transferred to Penn after a 1999 season in which he led the Big Green in goals and total points. "I didn't leave because of lacrosse at all," Solow said. "I just didn't like [Dartmouth], I wasn't happy there. It wasn't the team at all. They were my friends, and I felt bad leaving them, but it just wasn't for me." Solow may have been anxious to leave Dartmouth, but now he can't wait to get back. "Yeah, I'm real excited about this game," Solow said. "I don't want to say anything that [Dartmouth will] hear and get all pissed off about, but yeah, I'd like to go up there and play well. I'd like to beat them." Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale is a bit worried that Solow might get too excited. "Adam's normally a very intense kid anyways, and I'm sure he's going to be sky-high for this one, going back to play against a lot of his good friends," Van Arsdale said. "I hope he can be calm enough, actually. It's not a matter of trying to get somebody excited to play, it's going to be more the reverse with Adam. "I'm sure he'll perform well and want to do well in front of not just his former teammates but the other friends he has up there." While Solow still keeps in contact with "a couple of people" at Dartmouth, the Wynnewood, Pa., native and Lower Merion High School graduate is pleased as punch with his relocation to West Philadelphia. "Beating [Dartmouth] would be great," Solow said. "But just being here at Penn and meeting the people I've met here has been worth it already, and beating them would just be icing on the cake." The task of icing Solow's cake shouldn't be as tough for the Quakers as their first four league contests were. Traditionally, the Big Green have been a doormat in the highly competitive world of Ivy League lacrosse. Also, the Quakers hope that the momentum they picked up from a tough 10-4 loss to perennial national power Princeton will be enough to propel them past the Big Green in New Hampshire. "Obviously that's the hope, although there's never any guarantee," Van Arsdale said. "If we can just match the intensity that we demonstrated against Princeton for the entire game, with a little bit more execution and success offensively, then we should be OK on Saturday." Van Arsdale, though, cautioned that, since the game is the Big Green's Ivy League opener, the Dartmouth players will be geared up for this game as well. "[Dartmouth is] coming off of a very big win for them this past Sunday over Denver," Van Arsdale said. "And I think that they're excited about how they're playing right now. We're certainly getting an animal that's ready to play and is going to be very up for us, since this is their first league game." "They're certainly not a Princeton," junior midfielder Kevin Cadin said. "But they're also very capable defensively, and they have some good middies that can put the ball in the back of the net." Up until this season, Adam Solow was one of those "good middies," and he perhaps has a better perspective on the Big Green than any other Quaker. "They have a good defense; they're well-coached; they're sound on fundamentals," Solow said. "They're tough, and they'll play hard for 60 minutes." Solow also commented on what it was like to have been a member of the traditional Ivy cellar-dweller. "Yeah, they've been on the bottom for awhile," he said. "I don't know how hungry they are. I haven't been up there and talked to the guys. But when I was there, I know it was always an uphill climb every year." And while the Red and Blue's season has been anything but smooth going thus far, the Quakers are very happy that Solow's on their side. "Adam's meshed very well," Cadin said. "His style of play has really fit in with our team's style, so he's really had no problems. He understands the principles of our offense, and he's very easy going and easy to get along with off the field." The easy-going Solow seems to have found a more comfortable situation here in Philadelphia, and the Quakers would certainly be much more comfortable if they leave Hanover victorious tomorrow.