With the Penn Relays taking over University City, it’s easy for the Penn men’s lacrosse team to get distracted — especially when the famous track and field event forces it to practice on Drexel’s field.
But for coach Mike Murphy and the Quakers, focus has not been a problem recently.
“It’s an adjustment,” Murphy said, referring to the Red and Blue’s makeshift practice area. “But I think it’s only a distraction if you let it be.”
Murphy’s team is keeping its eyes on the prize: the final game of the season at Dartmouth Saturday.
Despite their unimpressive record, the Big Green (4-6, 1-3 Ivy) will present a good deal of challenges.
Sophomore goalkeeper Fergus Campbell and the rest of the Dartmouth squad proved that it can play with anyone in the nation with an 8-6 defeat of then-No. 6 Cornell earlier this month.
Campbell had 23 saves in that game and has stopped 58 percent of the 204 shots on goal he has faced this season.
The Quakers, meanwhile, also boast a win over a ranked opponent — a 12-7 victory over then-No. 20 Harvard last Saturday.
Murphy believes that his team showed glimpses of brilliance against the Crimson that it will be able to carry over against the Big Green.
“I feel like we got a little bit of confidence from that [win against Harvard],” Murphy said. “The bigger thing is that we actually played well for 60 minutes.”
That intensity and consistency is something Murphy expects to carry his squad going forward, even more so than the swagger inspired by their first conference win.
And a good deal of that effort came on the defensive side of the ball, as Harvard was the first team the Quakers had held under 10 goals in a six-game span.
While the defense, especially sophomore goalkeeper Joe Hegener, will be a critical factor against Dartmouth, the pressure is on the offense to dominate control of the ball.
“We actually had more possessions [against Harvard]. It allowed us to play better defense,” Murphy said.
Penn will need every player on the field to give a strong effort to avoid an upset against the Big Green, not just one or two key stars.
The more the Red and Blue can keep the ball in Dartmouth’s zone, the less Hegener and the defensemen will have to worry about stopping leading scorer Ari Sussman, who has 22 goals and 14 assists in 2010.
And Murphy recognizes that despite their prodigious defensive effort, the Quakers did still allow seven goals against the Crimson.
The Red and Blue are hoping to remedy some of its woes this weekend, courtesy of a Big Green punching bag.
