VILLANOVA, Pa., Feb. 23 - Penn's 10-6 win over Villanova Friday looked more like a pick-up lacrosse game than a collegiate one. For the preseason-No. 12 Quakers, that was just fine.
In a game decided more by battles for ground balls than by offense, Penn was happy to grind out the physical war and return from snow-covered Villanova Stadium with a well-earned win in its season opener.
In the Quakers' first game without the offense of graduated seniors D.J. Andrzejewski, James Riordan and P.J. Gilbert, it was Penn's defense that stepped up, holding Villanova scoreless for 31 straight minutes. Over that time, Penn turned a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 fourth-quarter cushion. Villanova scored three times to make things interesting, but Penn added two in the final four minutes.
"We got the fans into it," coach Brian Voelker said. "That's for sure."
But what kept the Penn fans in it was a steady diet of scrappy play that hardly looked like the smooth workings of a top-15 team. The thing was, it worked.
The Quakers were each able to bully their way through the Wildcats' defense on their own, resulting in eight unassisted goals out of 10 overall. Last year, 48 percent of Penn's scoring came with an assist.
Sophomore Drew Collins scored twice and had an assist to lead Penn. Classmate Craig Andrzejewski - with his brother D.J., a 2006 captain, in attendance - scored and had an assist in his first game after moving from midfield to attack.
On defense, the Quakers proved too quick for Villanova's attack to shake off, so most of the Wildcats' shots that weren't in transition were contested.
But, as Andrzejewski said, the Wildcats had "lots of chances."
Villanova won the ground-ball war, 27-23, and had a man advantage on Penn for five minutes. The Wildcats also took 34 shots to Penn's 33, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
Villanova had the chance to cut the deficit to two after J.J. Lian muffed a pass at midfield. The Wildcats stormed up the field, but Chris MacDonald fired his open shot right into goalkeeper Greg Klossner's padding.
"They're a much different team," than last year, said Villanova coach Michael Corrado.
After posting the nation's fourth-best scoring defense last year, and against a Penn team that had lost its veteran leadership, the coach ran out of explanations for his team's half-hour-long scoreless streak.
"They played a good game," Corrado said. "That's all I can say. They played a good game."
For a very different Penn team, it was the first display of a very different kind of good.
Notes: Klossner had a standout game in goal, stopping 18 of 24 shots, including a highlight-reel save in the third quarter that preserved Villanova's scoreless stretch. The Wildcats' Andrew DiLoreto stopped just 13 of 23 shots on goal. . Ricky Choi had a rough go in his first game handling faceoffs for Penn, taking just four of 17.
