M. Lax | Upsetting weekend?

Given that its starting goalkeeper is a freshman from San Diego, it's hardly surprising that the Penn men's lacrosse team is trying to ride a wave.

Only this time, goalkeeper Joe Hegener, head coach Brian Voelker and the Quakers will be trying to build off three consecutive strong defensive performances, not surfing on the coast.

"I feel like we are playing much better defensively," Voelker said. "We need to continue to do that stuff."

Penn (3-7, 2-4 Ivy) will test both its defensive and offensive mettle tomorrow against another top-flight opponent, No. 14 Maryland.

Beating the Terrapins (7-5, 2-1 ACC) would prove that Penn leading scorer Craig Andrzejewski and the Quakers' stellar performance in a win over then-No. 11 Brown was not a fluke.

"We've been doing a good job the past couple games of really controlling the pace," Andrzejewski said.

But they will have a tough time against the men from College Park, Md. The Terps sport a stout 7.49 goals against average.

Add to that Maryland's propensity for starting games off quickly - they have out-scored opponents 36-16 in the first quarter this season - and the Red and Blue might be in trouble.

"[Senior midfield Dan] Groot is as talented as any middie in the country," Voelker said. "The other two middies are super, super athletic."

And at attack, sophomore Grant Catalino has amassed an impressive 22 goals and 17 assists in the Terrapins' 12 games thus far.

This could be a serious problem for the Quakers.

They may have a hard time coming back from an early deficit if attackmen Alex Weber and Morgan Griff don't explode like they did against the Bears (they had a combined five goals and one assist).

Compared to Catalino, Andrzejewski has 17 goals and six assists.

That does not seem like a terrible contrast, until a look at the Terps' roster reveals not one but five other players aside from Catalino with at least 11 goals of their own. And two of them have 17, matching Andrzejewski.

Voelker understands the sort of depth that Maryland brings to the field.

"I mean, they got a lot of guys," Voelker said. "[Catalino's] got a lot of points, but they have a bunch of other guys that have some points."

And he knows just what this means for his team.

"We have our work cut out for us on both ends of the field," he said. "[Maryland has] some big guys on the defensive end, some really big guys at the attack."

But if the Quakers continue to embrace the role of spoiler, anything can happen.

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