Penn men's lacrosse beats Dartmouth, must play waiting game

The Quakers held up their end of the bargain on Saturday. But now they need some help.

Penn men’s lacrosse pulled out a 15-12 victory over Dartmouth at Franklin Field in its last game of the regular season.

The Quakers (6-6, 3-3 Ivy) celebrated Senior Day before taking on the Big Green (4-7, 1-4), but it was a junior who provided the heroics in this match up, as attack Nick Doktor had the most explosive offensive game of his career, scoring five goals and notching three assists.

“He’s been very, very good all year for us,” coach Mike Murphy said. “He’s usually more of a distributor than a scorer, but he’s just a very good overall lacrosse player, and those guys will always capitalize on their opportunities.

“He’s really become more confident and more athletic in his time at Penn. He really does excel because he can see the field so well and move by his man and win his matchup, and he did all that today.”

For the duration of the game, the Red and Blue never trailed, but the contest was certainly closer than Penn would have liked. After the hosts jumped out to a 7-2 lead, Dartmouth came roaring back, cutting the gap to 7-6 and eventually evening it up at 10 at the end of the third period.

“That was the most frustrating part of the game,” Murphy said of the blown lead. “You know, in an attempt to prevent that, I had called timeout at 7-2 and told them, ‘Hey, let’s keep playing here, let’s keep playing like it’s 0-0 and try to extend the lead. Let’s not have a letdown, let’s keep pushing and keep getting better.’ And we did the opposite.”

But Penn wasn’t about to let this must-win game get away. The two teams traded goals to equalize the score at 11-11. Then, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Doktor struck twice to put his team up 13-11. 

With the opposing net empty and Penn up, 14-12, in the final minute, freshman Kevin McGeary got the final word, firing one in to earn his second straight hat trick.

The seniors did their part on their special day, with Joe McCallion, Greg Caso, Isaac Bock, Jeff Puckette, Will Laco and Chris Hupfeldt each notching at least one point. On the defensive side, Matt McMahon caused a game-high three turnovers and John Lopes got the win in goal.

“It was neat [how] all of our seniors played a meaningful role. And it wasn’t gratuitous, we didn’t just stick them out there because it was Senior Day,” Murphy said. “All of the team’s seniors had a say in [the win], they really did make meaningful contributions, and it’s incredible to have a (senior) class that size where they can all contribute at this level.”

Penn finished its Ivy slate at .500, having won three straight after dropping its first three. The top four teams in the league will qualify for the postseason tournament, in which the Quakers played their way to the program’s first-ever Ivy title last season.

The Red and Blue got the win they needed to stay alive on Saturday, but with the other six teams in the conference not playing their final games until this coming weekend, the fate of Murphy’s squad is still very much up in the air.

At 3-3, Penn cannot catch 4-1 Princeton or be caught by the teams with 1-4 records, Dartmouth and Harvard. Brown, Yale and Cornell, however, are all 3-2. Unfortunately for the Quakers, none of those teams will play each other, which further complicates a potential tie-breaker scenario.

If Brown, Yale and Cornell all win, Penn is obviously out. But things get a big more murky if one of those three teams loses given the complicated tiebreaker process used to separate more than two teams with the same record, as two-way ties are determined by head-to-head.

According to Penn Athletics, Penn is in if Brown loses and either Cornell wins or Princeton and Harvard both win.

Either way, the Quakers are “in the clubhouse,” to borrow a golf term, and must wait for the rest of the league before finalizing the playoff picture. In the meantime, Penn will prepare to play No. 9 Virginia next Saturday in the ACC-Penn Classic.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.