PHILADELPHIA – The No. 20 University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team will face arguably its biggest challenge in this Ivy League season. Coming off a 20-13 loss to Cornell last week in Philadelphia, the Quakers travel to New Haven, Conn., this weekend to face a Yale team that is ranked fourth in the latest USILA coaches poll. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Reese Stadium.

Saturday's game will air worldwide on the subscription-based Ivy League Network (ILN), now available on Apple TV, Roku and the ILN app for Android and Apple devices.

The Series
The Quakers and the Bulldogs have had a spirited series in recent years, so it's surprising to see that Yale has won five in a row, eight of the last nine, and 10 of the last 12 meetings. That said, eight of the last 12 games have been decided by a goal—five of them needing overtime—two others were decided by two goals, and still another was a three-goal affair. Last year, Yale swept a pair of games, taking a 14-12 decision during the regular season in Philadelphia and then needing four overtimes to knock Penn off, 13-12, in an Ivy League Tournament semifinal in New Haven. In fact, Penn's last win in the series came at Reese Stadium, a 6-4 win in 2014.

About Yale
The Bulldogs (6-1, 2-0 Ivy League) opened the season with an overtime loss to Villanova, but have won six in a row including a 13-11 decision over Cornell and a 16-8 win over Princeton last Saturday. Senior attackman Ben Reeves was last year's Ivy League Player of the Year and a first-team USILA All-American; he has 22 goals and 15 assists for 37 points so far this season. Jack Tigh has 15 goals, while Jackson Morrill has 13 and Joseph Sessa has 10. Defenseman Aidan Hynes was second-team All-Ivy as a freshman last year. On the face-off X, Conor Mackie was first-team All-Ivy last year and has a .582 win percentage this year. In goal, Jack Starr has a .475 save percentage and an 8.74 GAA.

About Penn
*Penn has two players on this year's Tewaaraton Award Watch List, senior Connor Keating and junior Simon Mathias.

*Keating also was recently named Midseason All-America Honorable Mention by Inside Lacrosse. The announcement was made on Thursday.

*Mathias continues to lead the Quakers with 31 points (18g, 13a) after recording 11 points in a pair of games last week (6 vs. Bucknell, 5 vs. Cornell). In addition, his point-scoring streak is up to 37 games which is every game of his college career and the tenth-longest streak in the country.

*Only a junior, Mathias already is 13th on Penn's all-time points list with 118; he needs one to tie Vern Briggs (1992-96) for 12th place.

*Senior Kevin McGeary had two goals against Cornell last Saturday, giving him 22 points so far this season with 17 goals and five assists.

*Like Mathias, McGeary recently hit triple digits in career points. After last Saturday's game with the Big Red, he is at 102 (73g, 29a).

*Junior Tyler Dunn scored three goals and added an assist last Saturday, and is tied with Mathias for Penn's goal-scoring lead (18).

*Adam Goldner scored six goals last week—four vs. Bucknell, two vs. Cornell—and now has 14 goals on the season as well as an assist.

*Freshman Sean Lulley had a season/career high of three points against the Big Red, scoring once and dishing off two assists. He now has 10 points this season (5g, 5a). Junior Joe Licciardi has nine points (3g, 6a).

*JJ McBride has scored in three of Penn's last five games, and had three points two weeks ago at Princeton.

*Penn has had two long poles score this season, as All-America candidate Keating scored against Michigan—amazingly, his 29th career goal—while Jack Ullrich tallied against Maryland. In the Duke win, Keating had two assists including a feed on the winner.

*Overall, Penn has had 14 different goal scorers this season and 18 players record at least a point.

*At the other end, junior Reed Junkin—the 2016 co-Ivy League Rookie of the Year with teammate Mathias—has a .518 save percentage and a 9.37 goals-against average. He came up with a career-high 20 saves and allowed just seven goals two weeks ago at Princeton.

*The Quakers return their top 11 scorers from last season. Of the 147 goals scored by the Quakers a year ago, all but six were scored by players who return to this year's roster.

*Keating was a third-team USILA All-America selection last year after earning honorable mention recognition as a sophomore. He is the top-scoring LSM in the country, entering the season with 28 goals and six assists for 34 career points.

*Mathias—who led Penn in goals (28), assists (20) and points (48) last year—was a second-team All-Ivy selection last year after sharing Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors in 2016 with Junkin.

*McGeary (23-12—35 in 2017) and Dunn (18-4—22) received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition last year.

*Three other players had a double-digit goal total last year: senior Reilly Hupfeldt (18), Goldner (11) and Keating. Junior Alex Roesner nearly joined the list, with nine goals.

*Santangelo was Penn's top face-off man last year, finishing with a .528 win percentage in 231 draws. Richie Lenskold had 73 faceoffs and had a .479 win percentage.