PHILADELPHIA – In a matchup of top-10 teams, the University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team spent most of Saturday afternoon chasing No. 3 Georgetown. While the Quakers stayed within striking distance throughout the day they could not ultimately overcome the Hoyas, falling 10-8 at Franklin Field
Penn—which was playing its first game against an NCAA Division 1 opponent since March 8, 2020—is now 0-1 on the young season, while Georgetown improved to 2-0 with its second win over a ranked team.
Quaker Notemeal
*
Dylan Gergar led the Quaker offense with four goals on Saturday; he also had five ground balls and a caused turnover.
*
Cam Rubin (2g/1a) and
Sam Handley (1g/2a) had three points each in the contest.
*Penn's other goal was scored by
Jack Schultz while
Gabe Furey,
BJ Farrare and
Piper Bond all had assists on the day.
*Making his first collegiate start in goal,
Emmet Carroll came up with 12 saves.
How It Happened
Georgetown opened Saturday's scoring, Connor Morin converting 3:10 into the game, before
Jack Schultz leveled things off a feed from
Sam Handley in a man-up situation just 55 seconds later. Handley then fed
Cam Rubin to put the Quakers in front, 2-1, but the Hoyas needed just 16 seconds to tie it back up and then scored the next three goals to take a 5-2 lead after one.
Nearly ten scoreless minutes went by in the second quarter before Penn finally broke through again.
BJ Farrare picked off a Georgetown pass at one end, raced down to the other end and fed
Dylan Gergar, who hammered his shot home from about 15 yards out.
Georgetown needed a little more than a minute to push its lead back to three, but about a minute after that
Piper Bond got out in transition and found Rubin through some traffic. Rubin turned and finished and the Quakers were within 6-4 at halftime.
Out of the break, the Hoyas needed just 42 seconds to make it a three-goal game and then doubled up the Quakers a little less than two minutes later, Dylan Watson scoring both goals. Handley got Penn back on the board, finishing a feed from Rubin, and then Gergar came from back to front to get the Red and Blue back within two.
A critical two-goal swing occurred with just under five minutes left in the third, when Georgetown goalie Owen McElroy stymied Rubin on the doorstep, the Hoyas got out in transition, and Zachary Geddes finished at the other end. That made the score 9-6 after three quarters.
Gergar completed his hat trick just 51 seconds into the fourth quarter,
Gabe Furey getting the assist, and then after more than 12 minutes went by without any scoring he got the Quakers within one when he rebounded a saved Handley shot in traffic and surprised McElroy with a behind-the-back shot to make the score 9-8 with just 2:33 to play.
Georgetown responded. The Hoyas won the ensuing faceoff and Morin bookended his opening tally with what proved to be the game's final goal to get the margin back to two with 1:58 left. The Hoyas won the faceoff after that, as well, and while Penn's scramble defense got the ball back twice in the final two minutes the Quakers quickly turned it over to their guests. That allowed Georgetown to salt away the win.
Up Next
Penn will be up on Long Island next Saturday, facing Duke at MacArthur High School in Levittown, N.Y. That game will face off at noon.
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