As the Penn men's lacrosse season winds down, the 10 graduating seniors will be honored for their contributions on the field during a successful span of four years that saw Penn's first winning season since 1989.
One of the seniors who has played a pivotal role in the revitalization of the Penn lacrosse team has been four-year veteran defenseman and co-captain Evan Weinberg.
Hailing from McDonogh High School -- one of the nation's most prominent lacrosse schools -- the Maryland native switched from attack to defense in eighth grade and has loved it ever since.
"When I was in seventh grade and I first picked up a stick, I was an attackman," Weinberg said. "On that team we had the future starting attackers for Yale, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins.
"Those were my competition, so I decided to switch over to defense."
Weinberg's decision to switch to the long pole proved to be beneficial for the Quakers, as he broke into the lineup his sophomore year and has started every game in the last two seasons.
Because of the nature of the defensive position, Weinberg's statistics don't appear flashy.
In fact, he recently doubled his total career points to two. He scored his first and only career goal on his first and only career shot in Penn's 8-6 win over Harvard on March 22.
Weinberg forms the backbone of a solid defensive unit that has been the strength of the Quakers during the last few seasons.
But Weinberg admits he couldn't have done it alone.
"I feel like over the last four years I've had great teammates surrounding me," he said. "That's the name of the game -- you're only going to be as good as the people you're surrounded by."
Playing alongside experienced players such as senior co-captain Stephen Brown and senior goalie Mark Gannon, Weinberg has helped strengthen Penn's defense. This year, the Red and Blue allowed eight goals or fewer in six games.
But what separates Weinberg from the rest of the current roster is that his lacrosse career began -- and will end -- with the same coach, namely Penn's first year headman Brian Voelker.
"I've known [Voelker] since I was 13 years old, and it was great that he came back and I got to play under him again," Weinberg said.
Weinberg first met Voelker in eighth grade, soon after he made the initial switch from attack to defense. When Voelker took over the head coaching job at Penn this year, Weinberg knew that the first person to coach him at the defensive position would likely also be his last.
"He's a real good coach and he knows a lot about the game, which he brings to the field every day," Weinberg said.
Weinberg recognizes how tough it must have been for Voelker to take over the head coaching position at a competitive Ivy League team such as the Quakers.
"He didn't recruit any of the guys who were playing under him," Weinberg explained. "Basically everyone was new to him."
Everyone, that is, except for Weinberg.
"When he came in, he told me that I was the only one that he really knew from before," the defenseman said.
Despite only knowing one person on the roster, Weinberg notes that the new head man has quickly gelled with the team.
"It's always tough for a new coach to come in, and sort of mix and match and find where his talent is," Weinberg said. "And I think he's done a great job over the past season."
With Voelker at the helm, Weinberg believes that the improvement of the underclassmen, combined with this coming year's recruiting class, will propel Penn in a positive direction for the next few years.
"We had a really young team this year with a bunch of freshman and sophomores stepping up and making huge contributions," Weinberg said. "I think [Penn] is going to be extremely successful and extremely competitive next year."
Nevertheless, Weinberg admits that the strength of the Ivy League makes it almost impossible to predict the Quakers' future record.
"On any given day I feel that any team can win," Weinberg said of the Ivy League. "Of course, Cornell and Princeton have been at the top the last couple of years, but it's an extremely competitive league and going out there every day is a battle."
Besides battling on the field, Weinberg has also accomplished much off the field. He was the winner of the Quakers' Scholar-Athlete Award in 2002 and will graduate from the Wharton School with a degree in finance this spring.
Next year, Weinberg will trade in his stick and gloves for a suit and briefcase for his new job at Lehman Brothers, an investment banking firm in New York.
"Hopefully that will open up some opportunities over the next couple of years," Weinberg said.
And is there any chance he might return to lacrosse in the future?
"I would love to come back and be an assistant in the future," Evan said. "I don't think I could just cut off all ties with lacrosse, it's something I've been doing for the past eight years."
