Don't even ask David Cornbrooks what he thinks of Yale.
"This is our first Saturday home game, our Ivy opener, and we don't really like Yale, so everyone is excited," said the senior captain Cornbrooks.
No one is arguing that the men's lacrosse team is excited about getting the Ivy League season underway. And as Cornbrooks put it, no one likes Yale either. The men's lacrosse team will face those hated Elis on Saturday at Franklin Field.
Penn (3-2) is coming off a two-game losing streak, its last loss a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to UMBC. However, the Quakers are determined to get off to a good start in the league, and that all started this week in practice.
"Practice has been good," said coach Brian Voelker. "We've had a great full week. The last couple days we have really focused on Yale. We just have to continue to work hard and come out ready to play on Saturday."
One of the major factors of this year's team is their youth. They count on many freshmen and sophomores to contribute and so far so good, but a few things can be cleaned up.
"I think we have been playing up and down, which doesn't surprise me with the amount of young and inexperienced guys we have playing," Voelker said. "We have to get this thing straightened out rather than having these peaks and valleys."
Voelker attributes both loses to several game-changing mistakes. They have beat themselves in their last two losses, he said, rather than from better play by the other team.
Every player knows they must clean up their mistakes, and they are confident that will happen by gametime.
"We have to eliminate some of the mental mistakes and easy goals we gave up and we'll be okay," said Cornbrooks. "Offensively, if we can just get everyone involved and move the ball and we will be fine."
One of these young players is freshman goalie Chris Casey, who will get his second college start Saturday. Casey played the second half of the Bucknell game, then started his first game of the season in the loss to UMBC. The Quakers will look to Casey to have a big game in order for them to get a win on Saturday.
"I'm very excited, it's pretty cool to play in the Ivy League," said Casey. "Basically, we are determined to win the Ivy League, so this is a huge game for me and for us as a team."
Yale, of course, will have some different opinions. They come into the game undefeated (3-0) and ranked No. 17. Kyle Washabaugh leads the team with eight goals, while Tyler Casertano is the leading point-getter with 12. However, Penn isn't worried about any of that.
"They have some talented guys and they are a good team," said Voelker. "But I feel confident that if we go out and play well we will win the game.
