M. Lax seeks revenge while bidding its seniors farewell

While its final game of the season against Yale will give the Penn men's lacrosse team a chance to end an up-and-down season on a positive note, it will also mean something special for several select groups.

For first-year coach Brian Voelker, it will culminate his first season with the Quakers and be the launching pad for his summer recruiting program.

For the underclassmen, it will be the most vivid memory of the year as they head into off-season training.

And for the nine graduating seniors, it will be the last time they will take the field in Red and Blue after four years of sharing the battlefield.

"You go through a season and you keep saying your next one is most important, obviously this is our next one, but it is also our last one," senior co-captain Stephen Brown said.

The Quakers (5-7, 1-4 Ivy) will honor their nine graduating seniors at halftime of Sunday's game against the Elis at Franklin Field.

Among the starters suiting up for the final time Sunday will be co-captains Brown, Evan Weinberg and Alex Kopicki as well as goalie Mark Gannon and midfielder Jake Martin.

Seniors Bobby Unterstein, Jody Goehring and Alex Kapur are also expected to receive playing time while senior goalie Jim Tyrell finishes his career sidelined with an injury.

"We've been playing together for the last four years, and a lot of us lived together," Weinberg said Wednesday. "We've just always been a real close group of seniors, and it means a lot to be able to play with them in our last game and hopefully come out on top."

After a heartbreaking loss to Villanova last weekend -- in which Penn blew a four-goal lead in the fourth quarter -- the Quakers are looking to come away with a victory against a team that has had their number for the last three years.

"The seniors have never beaten Yale before," Brown said. "I think everyone understands the importance of this game."

But Weinberg knows that the final game of the season does not only affect the seniors.

"It's a big game for the underclassmen as well because it's kind of like a prelude to next season," Weinberg said. "Whether you win or whether you lose, you either have a good taste or bad taste in your mouth for the four months of offseason in the summer."

A victory over the Elis (8-4, 2-3) would give the Quakers a winning record at home.

"Now that the season has been somewhat of a disappointment to us, [a win] would be a great building block for next year." Brown said.

The Quakers will look toward junior Will Phillips to lead the offense against an inexperienced Yale tandem of goalies. The Elis were forced to replace All-America candidate Eric Wenzel was involved in a January car accident that killed four Yale students.

Phillips will look to extend his team-leading points streak to 18 games as he finishes the season. The attackman has already surpassed his career-high with 24 goals this season, including 12 in the last three games.

The Elis are led by co-captain and All-America candidate Mike Scaglione. The senior attackman leads the team with 31 goals and 45 points on the year.

The last time Penn defeated Yale was in 1999, when the Quakers came away with a 7-2 victory at Franklin Field.

While the current class of seniors joined the Red and Blue a season later, Sunday they will try to come away with a victory they do not need to read about in the archives.

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