Penn men's lacrosse defeats Lafayette 9-6 in the slush

Penn men's lacrosse snapped a two-game skid in the slushy Lehigh Valley weather on Tuesday night.

The Quakers pulled out a 9-6 win over Lafayette with some unexpected help from senior midfielder Chris Moriarty, who led the way with a hat trick.

Penn (3-2) got a solid effort in goal from junior Jimmy Sestilio, who made 10 saves and strengthened his case to win what appears to be an up-for-grabs position in net.

Jason Sands scored the first goal of the game for the Leopards, but the Quakers struck twice in quick succession with goals from Moriarty and senior Chris Hupfeldt. After Lafayette evened up the game in the second quarter, Penn struck twice yet again, with Hupfeldt and junior Nick Doktor each finding the net within a minute of one another. Senior Joe McCallion scored just before the half to give the Red and Blue a 5-2 lead heading into the intermission.

The second half started much like the first one ended, with McCallion firing in his second goal of the contest. But the wheels soon came loose for Penn. Sands scored for the second time to make it 6-3 going into the final quarter, and three quick Lafayette goals early in the fourth turned what had been a comfortable Penn lead into a 6-6 tie.

"We had a lapse or two there, and they took advantage of it," coach Mike Murphy said after the game.

But Moriarty's heroics would save the Red and Blue from an epic collapse and a third straight loss.

The midfielder scored with 7:33 on the clock to put Penn ahead and again with 2:26 left in regulation to provide some insurance. Down by two, Lafayette pulled its goalie in desperation, but Penn junior Pat Berkery put the game away by scoring on the empty net, cementing a 9-6 victory for Murphy's squad.

Lafayette took slightly better care of the ball than Penn on the day, turning it over 16 times to Penn's 19, but the Quakers made up for it in the face-off battle. Freshman Chris Santangelo worked hard in particular to win his team precious extra possessions, winning 13 out of 15 draws. The Red and Blue won 14 out of 18 overall.

"[Faceoffs] were really a question mark for us coming into the year," Murphy said. But Chris Santangelo and Rob Savage have really worked hard and done a great job for us there over the season. It's been great."

Penn was bolstered by some standout individual performances. To say that Moriarty had a career day would be an understatement — the senior had only scored three goals for his entire career before doubling that total on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, three other players had multiple-point performances for the Red and Blue in the contest: McCallion (four), Doktor (three) and Hupfeldt (two).

The Quakers — who had dropped two in a row to No. 11 Maryland and unranked Penn State in a disappointing start to the season — badly needed a win to put their first-ever Ivy title defense back on track.

Penn will get one final tune-up in its nationally broadcast home opener against No. 19 Villanova on Saturday. Despite the stiff competition, Murphy has high standards.

"I'd like to see us be complete, we've yet to play a game well at both ends of the field. It's hard to have a complete team, but that's what we're trying to build."

After facing the Wildcats, Penn will host Cornell to begin its Ancient Eight campaign on March 14.

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