Men's lacrosse coach Brian Voelker is hoping that his trip out west proves to be a Rocky Mountain high and not a Rocky mountain low.
The men's lacrosse team traveled to Colorado last night for its two spring break contests against Air Force and Denver - its last tune-up before the six-game Ivy slate.
The two teams should prove to be more than just sparring partners.
Denver is ranked No. 19 in the country by insidelacrosse.com, while Air Force is an historically solid team. And, further complicating matters for Voelker's squad, the two games are back-to-back, on Saturday and Sunday.
The last time that happened was the 2003-04 season, when Penn faced Navy and Brown.
But the Falcons and Pioneers will face similar difficulties, as they will each take on Brown the day that they don't play Penn.
First up for the Quakers in the Face-off Classic is Air Force. The two programs have met once, in 2005, also in Colorado. Penn emerged from that contest with a 6-3 win.
This year, the Falcons have had an uneven start to the season. They started off by winning a narrow 8-7 overtime match against Providence and are coming off a blowout 12-4 loss to No. 16 Army.
A Pennsylvania native may give the Quakers the most trouble. Senior David Rose, from Allentown, Pa., had only one point in seven games last year. But this season, he already scored six goals - half of his team's output - in two contests, on just eight shots.
Saturday has Penn taking on Denver. On paper, the two are evenly matched: the Pioneers are scoring 8.67 goals per game, slightly above the Quakers' 7.5. Penn is averaging four more shots per game and wins faceoffs at a slightly higher rate.
And even Penn's greatest weakness - its youth - is mirrored by the Pioneers. Thirteen of their 36 players are freshmen, and they have just five seniors on the roster.
The Quakers will have to watch out for Jamie Lincoln and Cliff Smith. The duo has combined for 13 goals - 50 percent of Denver's scoring.
With senior Max Mauro holding Penn's defense together, Voelker hopes that his backline can neutralize Denver's potent offense.
Hopefully for him and the rest of the Quakers, that thin, mile-high air won't thin out the scoring or defense too much.
