Final game for M. Lax seniors

If he's not on the field, Penn senior Bill Sofield is probably the guy you hear shouting from the sidelines. "Before a game, I kind of get a little wild in the locker room," the men's lacrosse middie said. "I yell a lot, I want to be a big motivator. Different guys get up in different ways, but in general this team is about getting fired up and excited to play." And everyone, from his coach to his teammates, concurs that Sofield is always enthusiastic. "He comes late to practice sometimes, but when he gets there, you know he's there because he's always screaming," senior midfielder Adam Solow said. That energy has translated into a successful career as Penn's face-off specialist for the past three seasons. Sofield came by the role of face-off man through a combination of circumstance, personality and skill when the Quakers' starter, then-sophomore Bill Reidy, was sidelined with a torn ACL. "At the end of my freshman year, Billy got injured and I kind of got thrown into it," Sofield said. "I was an offensive midfielder in high school, but I got pretty good at [facing off] and stuck with it." Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale recognized that Sofield had the qualities a good face-off specialist would need to succeed on the field. "Obviously there's the very specific technical side," Van Arsdale said. "But the other things you look for are strength, quickness and a willingness to compete. You want someone out there who will scrap for ground balls and he does that for us." Determination and intensity are two qualities that are definitely not new to Sofield, even during practice. "During runs, he always vomits but then gets back up to finish the run, which is pretty impressive," Solow said. "He always goes all out." But perhaps most importantly, Sofield is among the team's eight seniors that have worked to bring the team together on and off the field. "He likes to have fun and clearly cares about the guys on the team," Solow said. "He's a good guy to have in the locker room." Sofield himself admits that the game is not the only aspect of lacrosse that he will miss once his Penn career concludes against Delaware (5-8) on Saturday. "The best thing about this team is the camaraderie -- we're a really tight group," he explained. "We've stuck together through some tough times this season. I'm just going to miss the little things like the bus rides to games or hanging out in the locker room, listening to music." And with the Quakers facing the loss of their primary face-off man, the search has begun for Sofield's replacement. "The second guy is a freshman [Ethan Haire] and the third guy is a sophomore [Jody Goehring], and so Billy's always helping them at practice," Brown said. Van Arsdale added that even come game time, Sofield is always supportive of the two up-and-coming face-off men. "He brings a lot of enthusiasm and support to the team," he said. "If he's not out there taking the face-off himself, he's the biggest champion of the guy who is." With the final game of the season only one day away, Sofield and the other Penn seniors are preparing to leave on a positive note when they face the Blue Hens. Their overall record now stands at 6-6, and the Quakers are looking to finish with a winning record for the first time in Van Arsdale's Penn coaching career. "The great senior leadership helped bring the guys together all season long, and helped a lot in terms of team unity," Brown said. "It will be our first season above .500 in a while, which will be an accomplishment that the seniors can look back on with a lot of pride." And for the 35 Quakers returning next season, a win would provide a good foundation from which to build upon next season. "We want to end on a positive note, heading into the summer," Penn junior midfielder Sonny Sarker said. "We worked hard all year, starting in September and even the summer before that when we were in Europe. "But it will be especially nice to win the last one for the seniors. It would be a great way to send them off."

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