M. Lax opens with loss to Notre Dame

Heading into Saturday's game against Notre Dame, Penn men's lacrosse coach Brian Voelker refused to look at tape from last season, instead choosing his debut lineup based on fall and winter training. Unfortunately for Voelker, his chosen lineup for the No. 23 Quakers opened the season with a 15-4 loss to No. 17 Notre Dame. With the loss, Penn failed to repeat last year's upset victory over the Fightin' Irish in Philadelphia. Leading 5-4 at halftime, the Irish surged out of the gates in the second half, outscoring the Red and Blue 9-1 in the second half. "We played really hard in the first half but [Notre Dame] came out in the second half like a different team," Penn freshman attackman James Riordan said. The Irish were led by junior attackman Matt Howell, who scored three goals and collected two assists. Howell, last week's Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week, scored two of his three goals in the first four minutes of the game. Notre Dame freshman midfielder Matt Karweck also contributed three goals. The Irish opened the third quarter with four unanswered goals before Penn junior Will Phillips scored to cut the lead to 9-5 with two minutes, two seconds left. Notre Dame went on to score five more unanswered, including back-to-back goals by attackman Pat Walsh to finish out the quarter. The Irish (2-0) went on to shut out Penn in the fourth quarter. "We had a more balanced offensive effort in the first half," Riordan said. "But in the third and fourth quarter it fell apart." Riordan led the Quakers (0-1) with two goals and one assist in his collegiate debut. Junior Will Phillips also notched two goals for the Quakers, while freshman Luke Dixson added the fifth. The Irish jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Howell's first goal of the game. Phillips' first goal came with 7:23 remaining, closing Notre Dame's lead to 2-1. The Irish extended their lead to 3-1 with 6:38 to play when Karweck scored his first goal off an assist from Walsh. The Quakers tied the game at 3-3 in the second quarter after back-to back goals by Riordan and Dixson. Notre Dame junior attackman Dan Berger's sole goal of the game came with 59 seconds remaining in the first half, giving the Irish a 5-4 edge before the second half onslaught. Penn senior Mark Gannon played the entire 60 minutes for Penn in his debut in goal, turning aside seven shots. Junior goalkeeper Stewart Crosland recorded 10 saves in 58 minutes for the Irish. The Quakers' one tangible advantage -- experience -- never materialized, as the Notre Dame freshmen combined for 11 of the team's 22 total points. "Their rookies played a very good game," Riordan said. "Scoring half your team's total points in your home opener deserves a lot of credit." Some Penn players felt that more than the improved Notre Dame team was responsible for the loss. "We have been running in cold Philadelphia weather since January, and the field at Notre Dame felt like 90 degrees," Dixson said. "Also, we played with a green ball, something I never did in high school."

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