The Ivy League title may be practically out of reach, but when the Penn men's lacrosse team squares off against Brown on Saturday, the prospect of finishing with a winning record in conference play is enough to keep the Quakers (5-4, 3-2 Ivy) motivated.
"It's important for us to have a winning record in the league," coach Brian Voelker said. "But the bottom line is it would be great to be 4-2 in the league. It looks a lot better on paper than 3-3."
The No. 14 Bears (7-2, 2-0) won't make that easy. Their only two losses this season have been their only two ranked opponents, No. 18 Denver and No. 20 Hofstra.
Their winning formula begins in the net, where they boast one of the best goalkeepers in the nation in junior Jordan Burke. Burke boasts the best goals-against-average, 5.88, and save percentage, .695, in the country and has allowed double-digit goals just once, to Denver.
That game was part of the Pioneer Faceoff Classic in Denver, in which Penn was also a participant. Both teams defeated Air Force but fell to the Pioneers.
Voelker did not, however, use the opportunity to intensely scout his conference rivals.
"I'm one of those guys if I start focusing on other teams, I get too confused," he said. "So we saw them play in person, but we really started to focus on them in the past couple of days."
The Bears' game isn't entirely defensive, though. Sophomore attacker Thomas Muldoon anchors their attack, and his name is one that Penn players know well. As a freshman last year, he netted four goals and tacked on two assists against the Quakers.
This year, though, the Bears have a new freshman threat. Andrew Feinberg has already been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week and may be the only person who could keep Rookie of the Year honors out of Quakers' hands.
Penn will need impressive performances from its top goal-scorers to get the ball past Burke. Junior captain Craig Andrzejewski, who was held without a point Monday against Princeton for the first time in 26 contests, must regain the reigns of the offense for Penn to be able to put up a respectable total against the Bears.
Voelker, though, knows that his team has the skills to beat any team in the Ivy League. The issue is not in strategy, but in execution.
"Our formula for winning usually does not change," he said. "We have to win some faceoffs, play good defense, move the ball and share the ball on offense and bury our opportunities when we get them."
