Penn men's lacrosse beats VIllanova but falls to Princeton in Ivy opener

Penn men’s lacrosse split its slate of games over spring break.

At the beginning of the stretch, the Quakers beat Big 5 rival Villanova 12-11 for their third win in a row.

The win over the Wildcats (1-4) was big for Penn, not only in confidence but also in the team’s ranking.

Because the two teams play a similar style, Villanova was a tough opponent. For the fourth time in five years, the game was a decided by one goal. 

Down 11-7 in the fourth quarter, the Quakers came back to win the match and notch their third nonconference win.

Senior Drew Belinsky scored off of a feed from Zack Losco to even the score in the fourth. Soon after, Joe McCallion scored off of an assist from Belinksky to put the Quakers ahead for the first time in the match. 

While they ultimately defeated the Wildcats, the next contest for the Red and Blue was less favorable.

In their Ivy opener, the Quakers fell to Princeton, 15-12. Despite the strong showings throughout their nonconference schedule, the Red and Blue (3-2, 0-1 Ivy) lost to their first Ivy foe.

Penn came close to mounting a comeback similar to the Villanova game, but Princeton (3-2, 1-0) was able to hold off the Quakers after building its lead in the second quarter. The Tigers led Penn by three at the half and used four-goal performances from Tom Schreiber and Ryan Ambler to pull off the win.

While the Red and Blue have been able to take down several tough opponents this season, they will need to continue that play against their Ivy foes.

Still, there were some stand out players in the game against Princeton.

Junior Isaac Bock scored four goals and recorded one assist to accumulate five points in the game. Fellow junior Chris Hupfeldt recorded two goals to add to the Quakers’ tally.

Contrary to their previous games, the Quakers did not fall behind early. Rather, Penn lost momentum in the middle of the game and never had the capacity to recover.

While Princeton is a fierce opponent of the Quakers, it would have been a big win if the Red and Blue were able to beat the Tigers.

The Quakers next face off against Cornell on March 22.

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