PHILADELPHIA – Coming off a 14-11 win against No. 10 Duke last Saturday, the University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team is primed for its third straight top-10 tilt. The No. 6/8 Quakers welcome No. 2/2 Penn State to campus for the 2020 home opener on Saturday, February 29.
 
Saturday's top-10 contest will air nationally on ESPN+, but fans in the Philadelphia region also have the option of watching the game live on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
 
GAME 3 - #6/8 PENN (1-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. #2/2 PENN STATE (3-1)
Saturday, Feb. 29 | 1 p.m.
Franklin Field | Philadelphia
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN+/NBCSP) | Tickets
 
The Penn-Penn State Series
*The Quakers and Nittany Lions are playing for the 39th time overall and the sixth year in a row. Penn State leads the all-time series, 25-13.
 
* The series started back in 1923 with PSU scoring a 4-2 win.
 
* Penn State has won three straight games versus Penn, but two of the last three contests have been decided by one goal.
 
* Penn fell on the road to Penn State, 15-14, last March. The Nittany Lions outscored the Quakers, 5-4, over the last 15 minutes en route to the win.
 
Stuff You Should Know
*Penn went 12-4 last year, tying the program record for wins in a season (also 1984). After an 0-3 start, the Quakers ripped off 12 wins in a row before falling to Yale in the NCAA quarterfinal round.
 
*Penn went 6-0 in the Ivy League regular season last year, just its second unbeaten campaign (the other coming in 1984); the Quakers then beat Brown and Yale to win the Ivy League Tournament, becoming just the third team to go 8-0 through an Ivy campaign (also Cornell in 2011 and Yale in 2017).
 
*Sophomore Sam Handley was the Inside Lacrosse National Freshman of the Year as well as a unanimous choice as Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season. In IL's preseason pick of the top 10 Tewaaraton Award candidates for 2020, Handley was listed fifth.
 
*Penn head coach Mike Murphy was recipient of the F. Morris Touchstone Division I Coach of the Year award presented by the USILA last year, as well as the Ivy League Coach of the Year.
 
*After playing the Ivy League Tournament at Columbia the last two years—a neutral site, as the Lions do not field a varsity men's lacrosse program—the ILT will move to Hofstra's James M. Shuart Stadium this May 1 and 3.
 
*Penn's captains for the 2020 season are senior attackman Adam Goldner and senior defenseman Kyle Thornton.
 
*Last Saturday's win versus Duke was Penn's 23rd against a USILA ranked team under head coach Mike Murphy.
 
Penn Men's Lacrosse by the Numbers
2 • Penn players who were named to the Preseason USILA All-America Teams, sophomore Sam Handley on the first team and senior FOGO Kyle Gallagher on the second team.
 
3 • Penn players who were named to the Preseason Inside Lacrosse All-America Teams: Handley (first team), Gallagher (second team), and senior defenseman Mark Evanchick (third team).
 
4 • Penn players who were named to the USILA All-America Teams following last season: Handley (first team), Gallagher (third team), Evanchick (third team), and senior attackman Adam Goldner (honorable mention).
 
5 • Points recorded in the season-opener at #4 Maryland by sophomore Dylan Gergar (3g/2a), a career high; he had 17 goals and five assists for 22 points as a freshman last season. Through two games this season, he has seven points (4g/3a).
 
6 • Penn players who received All-Ivy honors last season: Handley (first team), Evanchick (first team), Goldner (second team), Gallagher (second team), senior defenseman Kyle Thornton (honorable mention) and sophomore LSM BJ Farrare (honorable mention).
 
7 • Points recorded by Sean Lulley (6g/1a) last Saturday against Duke. Both his six goals and seven points were new career-highs. He has set new career-highs in goals and points in each of the last two games. Lulley also currently leads the nation in goals per game (5.00).
 
7 • Saves made last Saturday by sophomore goalkeeper Patrick Burkinshaw, who transferred to Penn from NCAA champion University of Virginia over the summer. Burkinshaw also earned his first victory for the Quakers at Duke.
 
10 • Number of players that have scored a goal this season.
 
13 • The number of returning players who scored at least one goal last year.
 
14.55 • The number of ground balls per game that Kyle Gallagher is averaging this season, which is tops in the country.
 
27 • Consecutive games in which Goldner has recorded at least one goal/point, dating back to the 2018 season; his goal-scoring streak is tied for sixth-longest in the country among NCAA Division 1 players; he added to that streak with two goals last Saturday at Maryland.
 
56 • Goals scored by Goldner last season, a program record for a single campaign; he enters Saturday's game with 99 career goals, sixth on Penn's all-time list and just two behind fifth-place John Shoemaker (101 from 1984-87).
 
62.5 • Gallagher's faceoff win percentage last year, as he won 270 out of 432 draws on the X and came up with 169 ground balls which was three shy of the program's single-season record. (Chris Flynn had 172 in 1988.)
 
76 • Wins at Penn by head coach Mike Murphy; he is the winningest coach in program history, surpassing the legendary Tony Seaman with the Quakers' NCAA Championship first-round win over Army last season.
 
124 • Combined points scored last season by Goldner (63) and Handley (61); Goldner's total is third on Penn's single-season list, while Handley's is fifth.
 
239 • Penn's goal total over 16 games last season, shattering (by 51!) the program record of 188 which was set over 15 games by the Quakers' 1988 NCAA semifinal team.