M. Lax set to take on Engineers

Heading into tonight's game against Lehigh, the Penn men's lacrosse team needs only to look at its performance last year for inspiration.

Trailing 5-3 heading into the final quarter, the Red and Blue scored four fourth-period goals in a thrilling 7-6 come-from-behind victory against at Franklin Field. Then-freshman attackman Greg Voigt netted the game-winning goal with 5:35 to play, ensuring Penn's first winning season since 1989.

This year, the Quakers (4-6, 1-4 Ivy) will need to repeat last year's performance to salvage what could be a second consecutive winning season.

After a heartbreaking overtime loss at Brown on Sunday, the Quakers find themselves two games under .500 with three to play. As the season winds down, Penn is more and more desperate to get back on the winning end.

"We all want to end the year on a positive note. We've got three more games to go. Lehigh is the first out of three," Penn coach Brian Voelker said. "It's really important for the graduating seniors to finish off with some wins."

After an opening Ivy League victory against Harvard, the Quakers fell into their current four-game losing streak. Some of the losses came at the hands of the best teams in the Ancient Eight, including Cornell and Princeton.

While the Red and Blue were within striking distance against the Tigers until the final period, their games against Cornell and Dartmouth were characterized by a breakdown of effort on both sides of the game.

The Dartmouth game "was especially disappointing where we just didn't come out to play," senior co-captain Stephen Brown said.

On a positive note, however, the Quakers gave an all-around effort against Brown on Sunday, despite giving up a three-goal lead in the final quarter. Penn fell in overtime as Charles Towers pushed a rebound past Penn goalie Mark Gannon.

"We gave a good effort on Sunday, we just made a lot of mistakes, some mental errors and gave some opportunities to Brown," Voelker said. "They capitalized on them."

Penn's nine goals against Brown was its highest total in the four-game skid and its highest output since a 13-8 victory over No. 20 Army in March.

The Quakers will look to junior Will Phillips to continue the team's offensive rebound. The midfielder provided the majority of Penn's offense as well as extended his points streak to 15 games with a career-high five goals against Brown.

Meanwhile the Engineers (4-7, 1-3 Patriot) are also in need of a win. They enter tonight on a three-game losing skid of their own.

While Lehigh's roster includes only six seniors, the Engineers possess sophomore attackman Andrew Lucas, who is coming off a stellar freshman season. He was the third-leading freshman scorer in the country last season.

But the Quakers already know from last year's close game that Lehigh is for real.

"We know from last year that this is a team we can't take lightly at all.... We have to be ready at the first whistle and set our style of play," Brown said.

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