Comeback win for gutsy M.Lax

Going into the locker room halfway through its last Ivy League game of the season, the Penn men's lacrosse team was in danger of finishing with a losing league record for the ninth time in 10 years. Brown (3-6, 1-3 Ivy League) was riding a two-goal lead, as Penn (5-4, 3-3) had only tallied one goal in the first half. The Bears were controlling nearly all ground-balls and, as a result, the game. But a different Penn team re-appeared on the field at the start of the second half. The Quakers rallied to tie the host Bears by the end of the third period behind the goals of Sonny Sarker and Peter Scott. With 15 minutes to play, recording the first .500 season since Penn coach Marc van Arsdale's first year at the helm in 1997, was in sight. Penn sophomore Jake Martin rifled a shot past Brown goalie Mike Levin with only 51 seconds elapsed in the final frame to give the Quakers the lead. Martin tallied for the second time 13 minutes later, as the Quakers accumulated four goals in the fourth quarter to seal the 7-3 victory and the 3-3 Ancient Eight record. "I think it's a pretty nice accomplishment, but it's something we won't look back on until the end of the season," van Arsdale said. The head coach of the Quakers attributed the startling turn around in the second half to ground ball play as well as defense. In the first half, Penn controlled few ground balls and as a result fell into a 3-1 hole at halftime. "The most telling thing was the ground ball factor. We were out-ground-balled 22-8 in the first half," van Arsdale said. "The ground ball stats were even more in favor of us in the second half than they were of Brown in the first." Penn collected 27 ground balls in the second half alone, eight more than Brown's total of 19. Van Arsdale also credited the team's defense for keeping the Quakers in the game during their offensively-deprived first half. "The defense did a particularly good job in not letting Brown get away from us," van Arsdale said. "Steve Brown in particular did a great job in the fourth quarter." Brown, Penn's sophomore defenseman, picked up 10 ground balls throughout the game, nearly a third of all of Penn's ground ball pickups. Brown also tallied the first point of his Penn career, as he assisted Mike Iannacone's eighth goal of the season. Ironically, Brown was pulled from the game in the first quarter after he was held accountable for a goal by the Bears' Dan Creighton. "I got pulled out of the game and Coach van said to me 'you owe the team a couple,'" Brown said. "I knew I had to do something to step up my game. Penn goalie Ryan Kelly also had a stellar performance on Saturday. Kelly allowed just three shots by him all day, saving 16 shots and helping the Quakers to the big win. "We've stepped up our play in the last couple of games," Brown said. "It means a lot to the team to finish 3-3 in the Ivies -- and we're looking ahead to five victories."

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