6-0 Cornell? No problem

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To re-use the old cliche, when Penn plays Harvard, you throw out the records.

Last year, the Quakers lacrosse team came in with a 6-0 (1-0 Ivy) mark, and lost to the Crimson. This year it was switched though -- Harvard was 0-4 coming in, but managed to come away with a 7-6 win in overtime.

The Red and Blue are hoping that this trend continues, just with Cornell. Last year, the Quakers dumped No. 2 Cornell (6-0, 1-0) in a huge upset, and this Saturday face an undefeated Cornell squad with the exact same record as last season, and now boast the No. 1 overall mark in the InsideLacrosse.com poll.

It was hard for the Quakers to pinpoint a central area of the game as the key in the loss to Harvard, but time of possession may have been that silver bullet. The offense produced only six goals, but it's difficult to score when the other team has the ball.

"Our offense played well, it's just giving them a chance to get on a roll," said senior middie Matt Kelleher. "It was really time of possession." We were on defense the whole game and couldn't get it out of our own end."

While that stat was not directly kept, the time of possession is evidenced by Harvard's 36 shots (to Penn's 26) and +9 turnover margin (20-11).

After benching veteran goalie Greg Klossner, who was far too inconsistent, freshman Chris Casey has kept more balls out of the net each game since his first start in net.

All in overtime games, he allowed 11 goals in the 2OT loss to Maryland-Baltimore County (10 saves), allowed 9 goals in the 2OT win over Yale (eight saves) and by far the best of all, allowed seven goals (with 12 saves) in the overtime loss to the Crimson.

And he'll most certainly have to keep his improvement streak going if Penn wants to beat the top-ranked Big Red.