PHILADELPHIA – The seventh-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team used a strong first half to build up a lead on No. 4 Cornell, then used a three-goal run bridging the third and fourth quarters to stave off a Big Red rally en route to a 15-11 victory Saturday at Franklin Field.
 
Penn improved to 4-2 overall on the season and leveled its Ivy League record at 1-1. Cornell entered the day undefeated but fell to 6-1 overall and 1-1 in league play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outshot Cornell on the day, 52-42.
 
*Jamie Zusi had a superb day on the face-off X, winning 21 of his 29 draws and scooping up nine ground balls.
 
*Penn went 3-for-3 on its first three extra-man opportunities on Saturday, making the Quakers 8-for-8 to start Ivy play. The streak ended in the second half, the Quakers failing to score on both EMO chances.
 
*Penn has now won five of its last seven meetings with the Big Red.
 
*Sam Handley recorded six points, scoring three goals and dishing off three assists. He has 17 points across Penn's last two games.
 
*Cam Rubin scored three more goals, giving him 10 in the last two contests. He entered the Princeton game a week ago with five points in the first four games.
 
*Dylan Gergar was held to one goal but he dished out a game-high four assists for a five-point day.
 
*Jack Schultz and James Shipley both scored twice; overall, eight different Penn players scored on Saturday.
 
*Ben Bedard, who entered the day with one goal this season, scored twice in the first quarter.
 
*At the other end, Patrick Burkinshaw made 15 saves.
 
*Cornell was led by John Piatelli (4g) and CJ Kirst (3g/2a).
 
How It Happened
Bedard got things started just 46 seconds into Saturday's contest with an unassisted goal, but as it turned out that would be the only goal for more than 10 minutes until Kirst finally got Cornell on the board with 3:30 left in the first. Shipley (unassisted) and Bedard again (this time from Handley) in the final two minutes left Penn up, 3-1, after one.
 
The second quarter also started slow, more than six minutes going by before Handley scored a man-up, unassisted goal. That was followed by Kaleb Fernandez and Rubin scoring just 11 seconds apart—the Rubin goal on EMO—and Penn's lead was 6-1. Cornell got two of the goals back, and then Edward Arnold and Piatelli traded tallies before Rubin and Handley scored in the final 1:20 of the half. The Quakers were up 9-4 at the break.
 
Penn kept the run going early in the second half, Rubin completing his hat trick 1:05 into the third quarter and Handley scoring unassisted three minutes after that for 11-4. The Quakers went silent after that, though, and Cornell took advantage with four goals over a six-minute span to crawl back within 11-8. However, Gergar scored with just 19 seconds left in the period, and then Shipley and Schultz tallied in the first four minutes of the fourth to re-establish a 14-8 advantage.
 
Cornell scored a pair of man-up goals just 24 seconds apart in the final five minutes, but Schultz got one of those back before the Big Red closed out the scoring.
 
Up Next
Penn remains in Ivy League play next Saturday, traveling to New Haven to face Yale. The Quakers and Bulldogs will face off at 3:30 p.m.