After getting knocked around in an 18-4 loss at Princeton, the Penn men's lacrosse team is rebuilding its mental game.
"We need to get our swagger back," Penn senior Scott Solow said.
Perhaps taking a beating from the Tigers will help to motivate the Quakers as they near the end of league play this season.
The Red and Blue (5-3, 1-3 Ivy League) travel to Dartmouth this weekend to finish a five-game Ivy stretch.
Dartmouth and Brown remain the last two Ivy foes on the Quakers' 2002 schedule.
The Quakers must win out against the the Big Green and the Bears in order to finish the season 3-3.
In preparation for tomorrow's match-up Penn is going back to the basics.
"We're going to focus on the little things -- making the extra pass, finding the open shot and finishing," Solow said.
"We're looking to make our coach's system work for us."
Strong defense is a major part of Penn coach Matt Hogan's system. Before coming to Philadelphia, Hogan ran a top-ranked defense at the Naval Academy. His tactics have also made a recognizable impact at Penn.
Heading into the Princeton game, the Quakers' man-down defense was ranked second in the NCAA. As a team, the Red and Blue had successfully defended 87.5 percent of its man-down situations.
But the Quakers are still learning how to best take advantage of such strengths.
"Princeton was a defensive let down for us," Penn junior Steve Brown said.
"Looking back, some of the guys felt that we may have been intimidated. We just weren't mentally prepared for the game, and there's no excuse for that."
As a team, the Quakers agree that they must focus on their mental preparation in order to come up with the win.
"Confidence is the issue," Brown said.
"We should never be intimidated to play anyone," Solow said.
The Red and Blue believe that they have what it takes to win. But they also realize that its not going to come easy. They must focus as a team and use their strengths to their best advantage.
The Quakers are going to make this focus a top priority. They have established distinct objectives that will prevent them from getting ahead of themselves.
They are going to take the rest of the season one step at a time.
"Our objective every day is to win the next game," Solow said.
"That's our motto around here. The biggest one of the year is the next one."
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