Men's Lax unable to overcome slow start

With just over a minute to play in the Penn men's lacrosse game last night, Penn junior midfielder Joseph Shanagan recovered a loose ball and streaked toward the Bucknell goal.

With his team down by one and only Bisons goalie Matt Baran in front of him, Shanagan launched the shot that was Penn's best opportunity to tie the game.

It sailed wide, and so did the Quakers' chances to send the game into an extra session.

Despite an aggressive fourth-quarter comeback, the Quakers were unable to break through No. 19 Bucknell's defense when they needed to, as the Bison held on for an 8-7 victory.

The loss was the fourth in a row for the Quakers, who have lost both of their games at Franklin Field this season after going undefeated at home last season.

"I know we played hard; I think we just made some mistakes early in the game and gave those guys some easy goals," Penn coach Brian Voelker said. "It's kinda been the story of our season -- we had the opportunities but we haven't been able to finish things off."

The fourth period marked a dramatic change of pace, as the Quakers (1-5, 0-1 Ivy) played their most aggressive defense of the season after allowing Bucknell's offense to dominate the early stages of the game.

After Bucknell senior attackman Chris Cara scored his second goal of the game to give the Bison (4-2) their largest lead, 8-4, the Quakers stormed back with three straight goals.

With 12 minutes remaining, freshman Garrett Blomquist fed senior tri-captain Zandy Reich for a goal.

Less than a minute later, junior Luke Dixson scored unassisted to cut the Bison's lead to two.

And with 9:39 remaining, Dixson passed to a cutting Alan Eberstein, who tallied his second goal of the game to bring Penn within one.

But for the next nine and a half minutes, the Quakers could not muster another goal.

It certainly wasn't because of a lack of effort. The Quakers' defenders and midfielders completely controlled the last 10 minutes of the game, at one point holding Bucknell without a clear for six straight possessions.

With nothing happening on offense, Bucknell was forced to dig in on defense and wait for the clock to run out.

Fortunately for the Bison, it did before the Quakers could add another goal.

"Penn did a good job riding the ball, and not really letting us get the ball on offense," Cara said.

"They had the momentum going; I really thought they were going to put us into overtime. Luckily we were able to hold off."

Bucknell took advantage of several fast-breaks early in the game while controlling the tempo for the first three quarters.

After Blomquist scored his first goal of the year to give the Quakers a 1-0 lead out of the gate, the Bison scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead midway through the second period.

Blomquist tallied his second goal of the game with 1:47 to play in the first half, but the Bison scored again with just 41 seconds remaining to take a 5-2 lead into halftime.

The Bison then turned to their leading scorer, Cara, to continue their offensive onslaught. After being held scoreless in the first half by Penn defender Andrew Blechman, Cara added two goals in the third period to bring his season total to 17.

His second goal, which came with two seconds left in the third quarter, proved to be the game-winner.

Cara "is as good as any player in the country," Voelker said. "I thought Andy Blechman did a good job playing him, but he's a heck of a player."

The Quakers might have found another defensive star besides Blechman, as senior goalie Denis Cole recorded an impressive performance in his first career start.

The Manhasset, N.Y., native finished with 11 saves, including a key stop with 6:40 left that would have put the game out of reach for the Red and Blue.

"He did a very good job; he came up with some big saves at the end of the game," Voelker said. "He kept us in there. Bucknell had some opportunities in the third and fourth quarter to extend that lead."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.