Tomorrow's contest at Cornell is of huge importance to Penn men's lacrosse, but it may be for the wrong reasons.
A loss against the No. 4 Big Red - which would be the Quakers' sixth loss in a row - would all but guarantee Penn will be on the outside looking in for this year's NCAA tournament.
A Quakers' win, on the other hand, would be the perfect slump-buster and could turn some heads around the league - and in the selection committee, perhaps.
The Red and Blue will be in for a dogfight after a lengthy trip up north; the Big Red (5-1, 1-0 Ivy) are coming off three wins in a row, dispatching opponents by an average margin of seven goals over that span.
Cornell goalkeeper Kyle Harer is stepping his game up too, allowing a paltry average of six shots into the net in his last three contests.
But the main concern for the Quakers (1-5, 0-1) will be slowing the Cornell attack that has become a Big Red scoring machine, with 76 goals on the year, compared to Penn's 50.
More specifically, Cornell has four players with at least 10 goals this season.
Leading the pack is junior Ryan Hurley, with 21 tallies already, followed by senior midfielders Max Seibald and John Glynn, who have notched 12 and 10 goals, respectively.
"[Hurley] is a great finisher," Voelker said. "He's a great guy to hang around that left side and dunk the ball. When they need a big goal he's always one of those guys that's sniffing around there."
Voelker noted that, in his opinion, both Seibald and Glynn are deserving of first-team All-America honors, but even the veterans on the club have been eclipsed by a young gun, freshman Rob Pannell.
In six games this year, the Smithtown, N.Y., native is leading the team in points (26) and has scored his 10 goals on the season at an astonishing clip of 4.33 per contest - good for third in the nation.
"He's a really talented kid," Voelker added. "The stats really drop off [after those top four], but they have a lot of guys who know their role on the offensive end and get the ball to the right people in the right spots."
The Quakers certainly gained experience in guarding top-flight offensive threats after dealing with former Attackman of the Year, Zack Greer, at Bryant last weekend.
But Voelker admitted his banged up defense must put forth a "monumental" effort against Cornell's attack.
The Red and Blue took Monday off from practice and had a number of players missing Tuesday due to exams. But by Wednesday they were together in full force, clapping and cheering to begin practice at Franklin Field.
If they want to pull off the upset, the Quakers will need to keep up that high morale and maximum effort on both ends of the ball for the duration of the game.
"Coaches are always asking for 60 minutes - I'm not sure you ever get 60 minutes - but we haven't been close," Voelker said. "I'm not a big believer in go up there and keep it close, or go up there and . get a loss and feel good about yourself.
"I'm probably going to be not feeling great if we're driving home with a loss under our belt."
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