Thus far, the men's lacrosse team has seen its share of ups and downs, and its spring break road trips proved to be no exception.
At the two-day Pioneer Faceoff Classic, hosted by Denver, the Quakers dispatched Air Force 13-10 on March 8 before failing to upset the host school, losing 12-11 in overtime.
Penn followed that up Saturday with a 9-7 win over Yale in its Ivy opener.
"We tend to play a lot of close games, and I'm not really sure why," coach Brian Voelker said. "I was disappointed in our Denver loss because I felt like we outplayed those guys, but the bottom line is you have to close those games out and we didn't."
Through five contests, the Red and Blue (3-2, 1-0 Ivy) have played three one-goal games and another decided by just two goals.
Those nail-biters include two near-upsets against then-ranked opponents Drexel and Denver. In both, the Quakers held a late lead, only to see it evaporate late in the fourth quarter.
Against the No. 19 Pioneers (3-3) last Sunday, Penn was up 9-6 with nine minutes remaining. But Denver then launched a 5-1 run to take the lead. Junior midfielder Joey Murray notched a hat trick over just four minutes, scoring both the tying and go-ahead goals.
Penn co-captain Craig Andrzejewski tied the game with 26 seconds remaining on a feed from freshman Corey Winkoff to force overtime, but the extra period did not last long.
The Pioneers won the faceoff, and 43 seconds later tournament MVP Brett Koll netted the game-winner.
Against the Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1), Penn was more successful in maintaining its lead. After going into halftime tied 5-5, freshman Al Kohart scored twice after the break to put the Quakers up for good.
"I think finally against Yale we were able to finish off an opponent," Andrzejewski said. "We had a two-goal lead with seven minutes to go, and that's the time when we fell apart against Drexel and Denver. But I thought [against the Bulldogs] we took care of the ball at the end of the game and got the job done."
The win comes at a crucial time for the young Quakers squad, at the start of its Ivy season. And although No. 9 Maryland and No. 14 Army await after conference play, the team knows that winning the Ivy League is its best chance of making the NCAA Tournament. After the close loss to Denver, Voelker noted that "there's just not that much room for error."
Sophomore goalkeeper Chris Casey said that inexperience has been a primary reason for his team's struggles in close games. Andrzejewski said that League games are where players mature.
"We're young, but that can't be an excuse the whole year," he said. "Hopefully that's out of us now after the Yale game."
The team's youth has definitely shown promise. In addition to Andrzejewski and fellow junior Garvey Heiderman, sophomores Casey and Tommy Dodge were named to the Faceoff Classic All-Tournament team for their performances against Air Force and Denver. Kohart's four goals against Yale earned him Ivy Rookie of the Week honors the following week.
Voelker, though, knows that there's still going to be a lot of pressure over the next month.
"The bottom line is we need to keep getting better," he said. "There's a greater sense of urgency because I feel like we've given two games away and there's just not that much room for error."
