PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team put forth a stout defensive effort on Tuesday night, holding Navy to just three goals—the fewest allowed by the Quakers in nearly four years—and taking an 11-3 victory over the Midshipmen. The 17th-ranked Red and Blue are right back at it on Saturday, facing local rival Villanova in what has become one of the top rivalries in the country.
 
Saturday's game is slated to start at 1 p.m. and 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 own a 17-10 lead in over the Wildcats, but Villanova has dominated the last two meetings with a 16-8 win in 2016 and a 17-11 decision in 2015. After meeting every year from 1998-2016—during which time Villanova won 10 times and Penn nine—they did not play last year. Since 1999, these teams have played nine one-goal games against each other (Villanova winning five, Penn four) as well another decided by two goals and two decided by three goals.
 
About Villanova
The Wildcats (5-1) entered this week ranked fourth in the USILA national poll, but took a 12-9 loss to Brown on Tuesday out on the Main Line. Villanova has beaten Yale (10-9 in OT) and Penn State (17-16 in OT) this season. Christian Cuccinello leads VU in goals (20) and points (22), while Keegan Khan has a team-high seven assists. Danny Seibel has 13 goals, while Colin Crowley has scored 10. Devin McNamara has 10 points (6g, 4a). At the other end, Nick Testa has played all but 18 minutes in goal and has a .482 save percentage and a 10.06 goals-against average.
 
About Penn
*Penn had two players named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List late last week, senior Connor Keating and junior Simon Mathias.
 
*Mathias once again led the way on Tuesday night, with two goals and two assists. He has a team-high 16 points (9g, 7a) and his point-scoring streak is up to 33 games.
 
*Senior Kevin McGeary, who led the Penn attack in its 10-9 win over then-No. 1 Duke on February 24, scored twice on Tuesday to push his team-leading goal total to 11. Overall, he has 14 points.
 
*Adam Goldner also had two goals against Navy, giving him seven on the season as well as an assist.
 
*Senior Reilly Hupfeldt (3g, 3a) and junior Tyler Dunn (5g, 1a) both have six points this season, while freshman Sean Lulley (3g, 1a) and junior Alex Roesner (1g, 3a) have four each.
 
*Four other players had their first goals of the season on Tuesday: Mitch Bartolo, Keyveat Postell, Chris Santangelo and JJ McBride.
 
*Penn has had two long poles score already 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.
 
*At the other end, junior Reed Junkin—the 2016 co-Ivy League Rookie of the Year with teammate Mathias—has a .506 save percentage and an 8.21 goals against average. He had seven stops in Tuesday night's win over Navy, after coming up with 10 in each of the previous two games.
 
*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 teammate Reed Junkin, the Quakers' goalie.
 
*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 Hupfeldt (18), Goldner (11), and Keating. 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.