The Penn men’s lacrosse team’s eight seniors couldn’t have asked for a better last hurrah at Franklin Field..
The Quakers (7-4, 3-3 Ivy) took down the Big Green in blowout fashion, 11-2. The Senior Day campaign was led by four goals from Ryan Parietti, who was playing in his final game at home.
“It was a great week of practice,” Parietti said. “We didn’t play very well against Harvard so we really went at it hard all week and a lot of guys stepped up and were pushing each other all week. I think that the week of practice set the stage for the game today. Everybody played well.”
The game started slowly, with only one goal — from the Big Green — coming in the first period. Dartmouth (3-9, 1-4) started the scoring with a tally from freshman midfield KC Beard.
The Red and Blue, however, were able to step up their game in the second period. With two goals by Parietti in the first five minutes, the tides shifted and the Quakers took control.
That was followed by another goal from junior midfield Zack Losco to bring the score to 3-1 at halftime. Losco finished with two goals and an assist.
“We didn’t shoot great early on,” coach Mike Murphy said. “At halftime it still didn’t feel like we were really hitting our stride yet, and then we did in the second half.”
What started in the second period only further intensified in the third. Penn extended its lead to 6-1 with goals from Losco, freshman Mark Leonhard and sophomore Isaac Bock.
“I think defensively we played really well all game like we have all season, and offensively it felt like in the first half we were getting good looks but we weren’t finishing that well. We had a lot of open shots, but we didn’t really hit those,” Parietti said. “In the second half we were a little bit sharper with our sticks and we hit more shots and put up some more goals that way.”
Along with an influx of goals came many penalties as the second half commenced. Even with two for Penn and three for Dartmouth, only one goal — coming from Bock — was scored on a man-up opportunity.
Once the Quakers saw they were in control, they ran away with the game. The fourth quarter opened with a Dartmouth goal, followed by five Penn goals, four of which were in the last five minutes of play.
Unlike most Ivy games and Murphy’s expectations, this was not the one or two point game the Quakers usually play. It was the confidence and sense of urgency that pushed the Red and Blue to play solid defense and connect on offense.
“We got a lot of stops and then they started second guessing what they were doing a little bit on offense and settled for some bad shots,” Murphy said. “Our offense was pretty opportunistic, and we got some transition goals.”
Parietti and Losco dominated for the Quakers.
“It feels great to get a win like that at our last home game,” Parietti said. “For all the seniors on the team, seeing everyone able to touch the field and getting a win at the last game in Franklin Field it feels great.”
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