PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team got off to a fast start against Brown on Saturday, but the Bears roared back in the second quarter and the Quakers could never recover in taking a 12-10 loss at Franklin Field.
Penn led after one quarter, 5-0, but Brown outscored the Quakers 7-2 in the second and never really gave up momentum the rest of the way. The Bears never trailed in the second half and held the lead through the final 20 minutes of a game that never had more than a two-goal margin in the final 30 minutes.
Penn fell to 1-3 in Ivy League play and is now 4-4 overall. Brown, which had lost three in a row entering the day, is now 1-2 in Ivy play and 6-4 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*
Dylan Gergar led Penn's attack with three goals on Saturday, his fourth three-goal game this season.
*
Cam Rubin, who entered the day leading the Ivy League in conference goals per game, scored twice.
*
Sam Handley, who entered the day leading the Ivy League in conference assists and points per game, had a goal and two assists for three points.
*Penn's other goal scorers on Saturday were
James Shipley,
Gabe Furey,
BJ Farrare, and
Luke DiGiacobbe who netted his first collegiate goal.
*At the other end,
Patrick Burkinshaw tied a career high with 17 saves on a day when Brown narrowly outshot Penn, 47-46.
*Penn narrowly won the faceoff battle on Saturday, 13-11,
Jamie Zusi taking all of the Quakers' draws.
*Brown's first goal didn't come until 19 seconds into the second quarter. That ended a defensive shutout that Penn pitched spanning 39:04 of regulation game time. (The Quakers allowed Yale a goal in overtime last Saturday.)
How It Happened
Penn scored twice early in the first quarter, Gergar finishing a Handley feed quickly in an extra-man situation and then DiGiacobbe following up less than a minute later with his first collegiate goal. The teams went nearly the entire rest of the quarter without scoring, before Handley rocketed a Furey sideline inbounds for 3-0 with just under two minutes remaining. Those were followed by a transition goal from Rubin and a last-second individual effort by Gergar which had Penn in front 5-0 after one.
Brown got two of those back quickly in the second, Darian Cook scoring just 19 seconds in and then Devon McLane finishing early in a man-up situation to make the score 5-2. Ryan Aughavin made it 5-3 a little more than a minute later, before
BJ Farrare played a large role in Penn ending the Bears' run. With Brown trying to clear, he picked up his man with the ball near midfield, forced a turnover, picked up the ground ball, avoided a check along the sideline, then fed Rubin downfield for the conversion.
That only temporarily stopped the bleeding. Brown got the Rubin goal back, Brian Antonelli finishing a Reed Moshyedi feed, and then Trevor Yeboah-Kodie got the Bears within one as he scored quickly out of a faceoff scrum. Moshyedi then scored the next two, the goals coming 1:33 apart and his second putting the guests in front 7-6.
Penn knotted the score in the final minute of the first half,
Peter Blake exploiting Brown's 10-man ride with a beautiful downfield feed to Farrare. The senior long-stick middie converted into an open goal, and the teams went to the locker room tied up at 7-7.
Brown scored 1:21 into the third to go back in front, a goal that Gergar matched with a low-angled underhand shot off a Handley feed. However, the Bears' McLane made it 10-8 with a pair of goals 45 seconds apart, the second in a man-up situation. Bruno would lead the rest of the way, although Shipley got Penn back within one with exactly three minutes left in the third and the teams went to the final 15 with Brown up 10-9.
The Bears started the fourth continuing a man-up situation, and they needed just 19 seconds to convert as Aughavin dodged out front and bounced one home. Penn made it 11-10 when Shipley spied Furey cuttlng near the goal and nicely fed him for the doorstep finish.
The teams went scoreless for several minutes after that as the clock wound down, until a critical play with less than three minutes left essentially sealed the deal. Penn had Brown's defense scrambling off a ground ball, but Handley's shot attempt from up top was blocked by Yeboah-Kodie who then grabbed the ground ball and was off on transition. He fed McLane for a Bears' fast-break goal and another two-goal margin, one that Penn couldn't overcome.
Up Next
Penn is back at home again next Saturday, hosting Harvard in the second half of a women's/men's doubleheader at Franklin Field. The Quakers and Crimson are scheduled to face off at 3:30 p.m. The programs will celebrate Alumni Day as part of the weekend.
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