PHILADELPHIA – A contest that was never separated by more than two goals either way resulted in a thrilling, 13-12, overtime victory Wednesday night for the #16 University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team against #17 Saint Joseph's at Sweeney Field in the opening night of the Philly Four Lacrosse Classic.
 
An identical score and outcome from a year ago—just in a different location—the Quakers' defense held its own against a Hawks attack that took 41 shots, while Sam Handley put away his fourth goal of the game, the game-winner, halfway through the overtime period.
 
Penn improves to 2-2 with the victory, snapping a two-game skid, while SJU falls to 3-2, losers of two consecutive matchups.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The victory snaps a two-game skid after falling to Duke and Penn State in back-to-back weeks.
 
*The outcome marks the third straight meeting between Penn and Saint Joseph's the final score was 13-12, all three victories going the way of the Quakers. Last season at Penn Park, Penn beat St. Joe's, 13-12, in overtime as well. This is the fourth straight game between the two teams that the Quakers scored exactly 13 goals. Guess 13 is a lucky number after all.
 
*Penn improves to 16-2 all-time against the Hawks, now winners of four straight games.
 
*The Quakers have now won three straight overtime games, doing so against SJU on Wednesday night, an 11-10 victory over Richmond in the NCAA First Round a season ago and against the Hawks back on Apr. 26, 2022.
 
*Sam Handley led the way with four goals—including the game-winning goal—on seven shots.
 
*Dylan Gergar had a great first half, netting a hat trick in the first quarter alone. His first goal early in the first frame marked the 100th of his career, becoming the seventh Quaker in program history to reach the milestone. He finished the night with 102 career goals, moving into sixth all-time in the category.
 
*Cam Rubin also netted a hat trick with three goals and an assist. It's his third game this season with at least three goals scored. Rubin is the Quakers' leading goal-scorer this year with 11 goals.
 
*James Shipley put together an astounding performance in the midfield, registering five assists to lead the charge on the offensive end. He becomes the Quakers' leading assist-getter this season with seven. The five is a career-high number for Shipley, the most helpers registered by a Penn player since Handley's eight at Princeton on Mar. 19, 2022.
 
*Emmet Carroll was a force between the pipes on Wednesday, stopping 14 shots including a SportsCenter Top 10-worthy save late in the third quarter to keep it a one-goal deficit, which proved to be the difference in the end.
 
*Saint Joseph's out-shot Penn, 41-31 and 26-19 in shots on goal.
 
*The Quakers were 21-for-22 on clears and won the game despite winning just eight faceoffs against All-American Zach Cole.
 
*Ethan Till led the team with four ground balls, while six different Quakers had a caused turnover.
How It Happened
Penn got out to a very early 2-0 advantage after Cam Rubin found the back of the net for his ninth and 10th goals of the season with more than 13 minutes remaining on the clock.
 
Saint Joseph's connected on three straight chances to take its first lead of the game, ahead 3-2 with 7:23 left in the first.
 
Goals seemed to come in pairs for the Quakers as Dylan Gergar scored twice in a span of 40 seconds, the first being his 100th-career goal, to put Penn back in front, 4-3.
 
The teams went back-and-forth to conclude the first quarter as Carter Page scored to tie the game at 4-4 with 3:27 and then Gergar netted a first-quarter hat trick with his third of the game to give the Quakers a 5-4 lead to conclude the first frame.
 
Sam Handley converted on his first goal of the game with 13:05 to play in the second quarter, giving Penn a two-goal cushion. From there, Saint Joseph's scored two goals in a row, one from Matt Bohmer off the FOGO assist from Zach Cole and the other on Collin Campbell's man-up goal to make it 6-6.
 
Robert Schain quickly answered with 6:27 on the clock to take a 7-6 lead, but four minutes later, Bohmer scored again on the man-up to make it 7-7.
 
Handley scored a beaut of an unassisted strike with just one minute remaining to give the Quakers a 8-7 halftime lead.
 
Both teams' defenses did plenty of work to halt the scoring in the opening stages of the third quarter, holding each other goalless for nearly nine straight minutes until SJU cracked the code with Stephen Dwyer's unassisted goal to tie the game back up at 8-8 with 6:27 remaining. Hugh Mullane scored his second-career goal in as many games to allow Penn to re-take the lead before St. Joe's scored twice (both from Levi Anderson) to take its first lead since early in the first quarter, now ahead 10-9.
 
With 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Rubin used a timely feed from Schain to notch his third of the game and first since the beginning of the contest, tying the game back at 10-10. With 13 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Ben Smith got on the scoreboard with his score from James Shipley and the Hawks answered back with one a little over a minute removed.
 
Handley got his hat trick on a goal with eight minutes left in the contest and despite Penn's best efforts on defense in the later stages of the stanza, Bohmer got his fifth of the game to equalize with 4:08 to play in regulation.
 
Penn's offense had a chance to milk the clock all the way down to the nub (with the shot clock greater than the game clock), but SJU had other ideas, smothering the Quakers and keeping them out for the remainder of the period.
 
Just over a minute into the first overtime period, Handley delivered the fatal blow, sealing Penn's thrilling overtime victory over the Hawks for the second consecutive season.

OT1 | Penn 13, SJU 12

SAM HANDLEY. GAME WINNER. GOOD NIGHT. QUAKERS WIN!#ILPL // #FightOnPenn ???? pic.twitter.com/JgLPHhBuGL

— Penn Men's Lacrosse (@PennMensLax) March 9, 2023

Up Next
The Quakers continue the Philly Four Classic on Saturday afternoon, hosting a true doubleheader at Franklin Field as SJU takes on Drexel in the noon opener and Penn takes on Villanova at 3:30 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required) with live stats provided.