M. Lax suffers year of disappointment

Santa Fe High School '97

Alma, Mo.

The Penn men's lacrosse team capped its season and four seniors ended their careers with a string of four straight losses, capping a disappointing season for the Red and Blue after a promising start.

The Quakers wrapped up their campaign with a 12-6 loss at the hands of Delaware.

"I'd say we had a less-than-inspired effort when things started to go away from us," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "I don't think there was any one little thing that was the key to it. They just more or less outplayed us for the majority of the game."

The Quakers, notorious for their bad starts over the course of the season, fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter against the Blue Hens before senior attackman and co-captain Pete Janney finally broke the drought with six minutes and 30 seconds left in the second quarter.

As it turns out, that goal was the last of Janney's career as a member of the Red and Blue. He finished as Penn's second-most prolific goal scorer with 117, 12 behind John Ward's 129. Janney will be missed next year, but will turn the reins of the Penn offense over to Todd Minerley, the Quakers' leading scorer for the past two years.

At Delaware, Penn ran into another familiar problem area -- the third quarter. Despite "slowing down" the game, the Blue Hens scored five goals in the third stanza, while the Quakers were unable to get any balls past Delaware goalie Dave Mullen, who had a career high with 19 saves on the night. The Quakers were outscored 46-29 in third quarters over the course of the season, and their post-halftime breakdown left them down 9-2 to the powerful Blue Hens.

The Quakers, as they did so many times in 2000, then sent out the "too little, too late" brigade.

Minerley sandwiched his 24th goal of the year between midfielder Pete Gilman's two goals, as the Quakers started the fourth period with a 3-0 run.

The Blue Hens, however, came right back with a 3-0 run of their own, and Delaware attackman Jason Lavey's goal with 5:15 left essentially put the game out of reach at 12-5. The run also rendered the final goal of the Quakers' season -- by junior midfielder Adam Solow -- virtually meaningless.

But what about the Red and Blue's season?

"I think the first word that probably comes to mind for most people would be disappointing, particularly given the start we had," Van Arsdale said. "I think we started maybe faster than anticipated, including those scrimmages early. It seemed like we were playing some very good lacrosse, and we just never were able to maintain it."

Consistency problems plagued the Quakers all year, as they never seemed to be able to sustain the flashes of excellence they showed at times, as in their season-opening win over Notre Dame at Franklin Field.

"Basically, it's just our inconsistent play," senior midfielder Mike Kehoe said. "We can never put a whole game together."

Having lost three straight heading into the final game of the season, the Quakers seniors wanted to end their careers on a positive note, but it wasn't meant to be.

"It was devastating, disappointing, nothing good about it," senior defenseman Bill Fowler said.

"It was hard to swallow," Kehoe said. "We worked really hard in the offseason, and you put a lot of time and effort into a varsity sport."

So, was the effort worth it?

"I did have fun, despite the record," Kehoe said. "I learned a lot, and it taught me a good work ethic, even though we did lose every year."

While the seniors were reflecting, Van Arsdale was looking ahead -- and at the positives that could be taken away from the season.

"[Senior midfielder Billy] Reidy's comeback was a real big positive," Van Arsdale said, referring to the knee injury that kept Reidy out for nearly all of his junior year.

Van Arsdale was also pleased with the play of his two young goalies, sophomore John Carroll and freshman Ryan Kelly, who split time in the net this year.

Van Arsdale is also looking forward to having back midfielders Alex Kopicki and Jake Martin and defenseman Stephen Brown, players who saw substantial action in their freshman season.

"The freshmen that got a lot of time this year I think will really emerge next year," Van Arsdale said. "We have a couple key guys there that will play huge roles for us."

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