Men's lacrosse looks to recapture old magic

For the eight seniors on the Penn men’s lacrosse team, Saturday’s game will be bittersweet.

The No. 18 Quakers (6-4, 2-3 Ivy) take on Dartmouth (3-8, 1-3 Ivy) on Saturday.

Coming off of a tough loss to Harvard in overtime last weekend, Penn desperately needs a win.

“For us it’s a must win game and everyone is very excited,” senior captain Anthony Santomo said. “There is a big sense of urgency this week, which we definitely needed after last week didn’t go our way.”

This will be the 66th meeting between the Quakers and the Big Green. With Dartmouth winning last year’s game, the Red and Blue are looking for a victory.

“It is going to be a close competitive game, like it has been in years past,” coach Mike Murphy said. “We lost a one-goal game to Dartmouth last year up there and a couple years ago we beat them by four so we hope to have that happen this Saturday.”

But Penn will have to work hard to match Dartmouth’s work ethic.
“They do play with a lot of energy and we are going to need to match that intensity,” Murphy added.

The Quakers have gotten used to living on the edge, though, with three of their last eight games having been decided by one goal.
The challenge Dartmouth presents comes not only from the frenetic pace with which the Big Green play.

“They play a lot of players and they do a lot of different things on offense, so for us, it is more of a broad-based preparation as opposed to a singular focus on one guy or one specific play,” Murphy said.

For seniors Brendan Engelke, Greg Ives, Matt Machucki, C.J. Mooney, Ryan Parietti, Anthony Santomo, Tim Schwalje and Dave Twamley, Saturday’s game is a curtain call, as the eight will be honored in their last home game at Franklin Field.

“Everything is coming to a close, graduation is coming, it’s nerve-racking but at the same time I’m excited for it and I just want to keep playing for as long as possible,” Santomo said.

There’s an excitement in the air around the Quakers’ veterans.

“It is the last game for them on this field and I think that’s enough to get us going. I would be surprised if we don’t play with a lot of energy and purpose,” Murphy said. “I feel good about that part of it.”

Dartmouth is coming off its first Ivy League win, and it was a big one. The Big Green beat Princeton last weekend, a preseason Top 10 team. Mike Olentine helped the team to its win with three goals and was named Ivy League co-offensive Player of the week this past Monday for his efforts.

But it is senior attack Chris Costabile — who leads Dartmouth with 19 goals and 26 points ­— who the Quakers should fear most.

The Red and Blue know that the Big Green will be anything but a pushover Saturday.

“They are coming off a very big win for their program against Princeton at their place and I’m sure that will give them an injection of confidence and some energy now because they are clearly mathematically still in contention for an Ivy League tournament bid, and so are we,” Murphy said.

In spite of the pressure, though, Penn expects to thrive.

“We’ve been pushing the whole team, the seniors are head-manning the sense of urgency but everyone feels it, and I think that it is going to help us instead of hurt us,” Santomo said. “It’s going to fuel our team to do better.”

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