WASHINGTON, D.C. – The #11 University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team led by three goals at halftime and despite getting outscored in the second half, hung on for a 9-7 victory over #8 Georgetown Saturday afternoon at Cooper Field in the season opener.
 
Junior Cam Rubin scored four goals off the bench to lead the attack while junior Emmet Carroll made 18 saves in net.
 
With the victory, the Quakers improve to 1-0 while the Hoyas fall to 0-2 to start the season.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn wins its season-opener for the first time since 2018, a 12-9 win over Michigan at Franklin Field.
 
*The Quakers win their first-ever game against the Hoyas in a series that dates back to 1993. Georgetown beat Penn, 10-8, at Franklin Field in last season's opener.

*James H. Greene, Jr. Head Coach Mike Murphy won his 90th career game at Penn.
 
*With four against the Hoyas on Saturday, Cam Rubin notched his most goals in a game since scoring seven against Princeton on Mar. 19, 2022.
 
*Goalkeeper Emmet Carroll made a career-high 18 saves for the Quakers, the most by a Penn keeper since Patrick Burkinshaw's 20 stops against Brown in the Ivy League Semifinals on May 6, 2022.
 
*Seniors James Shipley and Dylan Gergar both led the team with two assists.
 
*Ethan Till led Penn with three caused turnovers, while Peter Blake had three ground balls to lead the team.
 
*Senior Sam Handley finished with two points on one goal and one assist, extending his point streak to 34 straight games. Handley has at least one point in all 34 games he's appeared in wearing the Red and Blue.
 
*Gergar extended his point-scoring streak to 24 straight games, while extending his goal-scoring streak to 24 in a row as well, notching 80 goals during that stretch.

*Penn out-shot Georgetown, 39-37 in the contest and led on faceoffs, 11-9. The Quakers converted on three extra-man opportunities.
 
How It Happened
Penn scored the first two goals of the contest by way of Robert Schain (from Dylan Gergar) and Sam Handley to take an early 2-0 lead.
 
Georgetown scored its first of the game with 2:25 to go in the first quarter on an extra-man opportunity and the Quakers quickly answered with Cam Rubin's first goal of the game just 23 seconds later, extending the advantage to 3-1.
 
The Hoyas notched two in a row to tie the game at 3-3 with 11:27 to play in the second quarter as Rubin reeled off three of the next four goals (with Griffin Scane's first career strike sandwiched in) to hand Penn a 7-3 lead in the opening stages of the third quarter.
 
After just one goal each from both teams in the third quarter, the Hoyas started out the fourth with a goal that made it 7-5.
 
Gergar scored his first of the season with 12:32 to play in the final frame to put the Quakers up 8-5.
 
Now under six minutes to go, Graham Bundy, Jr. brought Georgetown back within two while Tucker Dordevic tallied another with 50 seconds remaining to make it 8-7.
 
With 23 seconds on the clock, Ben Smith put away a shot from Handley that sealed the contest as Penn came away with a 9-7 victory.
 
Up Next
Penn opens its home schedule next Saturday, Feb. 25 against Duke at Adams Field at Penn Park, starting at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).