PHILADELPHIA – Looking to emerge victorious in its third consecutive Ivy League Tournament, the No. 11/10 University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team begins its postseason run Friday night, taking on #16/20 Princeton at Columbia's Wien Stadium in New York City.
 
The Quakers have won three games in a row, winners of four of their last five to conclude the regular season. The Tigers dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Cornell last weekend for the outright Ivy League regular-season crown and are looking for revenge following a 9-8 defeat in OT to Penn earlier this year.
 
Penn or Princeton will take on the winner of Friday's first semifinal matchup between top seed Cornell and fourth-seeded Yale.
 
GAME 13: #2 Penn (7-5, 4-2 Ivy) vs. #3 Princeton (6-6, 4-2 Ivy)
Ivy League Tournament Semifinal
Friday, May 5, 2023 | 8:30 p.m.
Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium | New York, N.Y.
Watch (ESPNU, ESPN+) | Live Stats | Game Notes | Tickets
 
The Penn-Princeton Series
*It should be another epic matchup against two bitter rivals, facing off against each other for the first time in ILT history.
 
This will be the 91st matchup all-time between the regional foes. Penn got the better of Princeton at Franklin Field earlier this season, a 9-8 victory in overtime.
 
The last 10 matchups between the opponents are split, 5-5, with the Quakers taking three of the last four games. The last two matchups went to OT, including a 21-20 loss last season in Old Nassau.
 
Penn In The Ivy League Tournament
*The Quakers are making their ninth appearance in the 12th iteration of the Ivy League Tournament, introduced for the 2010 season. Penn has appeared in six straight tourneys, despite the ILT being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
 
*Penn have won back-to-back Ivy League Tournament crowns in 2019 and 2022. They were victorious in both ends of the spectrum, winning as the top seed in 2019 and the four seed in 2022.
 
*The Quakers are searching for their fourth Ivy Tournament title all-time and third in a row. Only Yale (five times), Penn (three times) and Cornell (twice) have won the ILT.
 
The Last Time Out
*In its regular season finale, Penn trailed UAlbany, 8-3, midway through the second quarter, but five unanswered goals knotted the game at 8-8 heading into halftime. The Quakers out-scored the Great Danes, 6-3, in the second half to earn a 14-11 victory on the road.
 
Sam Handley scored a career-high tying six goals with two assists for a season-high eight points, while Chris Arceri went 20-for-29 from the X with nine ground balls. Peter Blake had two caused turnovers while goalie Emmet Carroll made 10 saves.
 
All-Time Tournament Results
2011 (at Cornell)
  Semifinal – (3) Harvard 12, (2) Penn 8
2013 (at Cornell)
  Semifinal – (2) Yale 9, (3) Penn 6
2014 (at Harvard)
  Semifinal – (3) Penn 11, (2) Cornell 10
  Final – (3) Penn 7, (1) Harvard 5
2016 (at Brown)
  Semifinal – (2) Yale 7, (3) Penn 6
2017 (at Yale)
  Semifinal – (1) Yale 13, (4) Penn 12 (4OT)
2018 (at Columbia)
  Semifinal – (1) Yale 21, (4) Penn 6
2019 (at Columbia)
  Semifinal – (1) Penn 13, (4) Brown 12
  Final – (1) Penn 12, (2) Yale 11
2022 (at Brown)
  Semifinal – (4) Penn 14, (1) Brown 9
  Final – (4) Penn 16, (3) Yale 9
 
Penn Record By Seed (*won title)
As #1 seed: 2-0 (2019*)
As #2 seed: 0-1 (2011)
As #3 seed: 2-2 (2013, 2014*, 2016)
As #4 seed: 2-2 (2017, 2018, 2022*)
 
Tournament Championships (3)
2014, 2019, 2022
 
All-Time vs. Opponents (5-5)
Brown: 2-0
Cornell: 1-0
Dartmouth: 0-0
Harvard: 1-1
Princeton: 0-0
Yale: 2-4
 
All-Tournament Selections
*Most Outstanding Player
2014: Zack Losco* (M), Nick Doktor (A),
  Brian Feeney (GK), Danny Feeney (FO)
2017: Reed Junkin (GK)
2019: Reed Junkin* (GK), Kyle Gallagher (FO), Adam Goldner (A), BJ Farrare (LSM), Simon Mathias (A)
2022: Patrick Burkinshaw* (GK), Ben Bedard (M), BJ Farrare (LSM), Dylan Gergar (A), Sam Handley (M)
 
2023 All-Ivy Selections
The results are in...
 
Penn had seven players named All-Ivy honorees when the Ivy League made its announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Joining BJ Farrare and Piper Bond on the first team were Handley and Brendan Lavelle, both garnering unanimous honors. Its the third time (1984, 2019) that the Quakers had four first-team All-Ivy selections.
 
Blake, Carroll and James Shipley grabbed spots as honorable mentions. Bond was Penn's representative on the Academic All-Ivy team.
 
The Century Club
With four goals in the first half of Wednesday's victory at UAlbany, Handley became the eighth player in program history to eclipse 100 career goals, finishing with six and is currently tied with teammate Dylan Gergar at 102, sixth all-time.
 
In addition, Handley is making his way up the record books for career points, currently slotting in at fourth with 190, eight shy of becoming Penn's all-time leading scorer.
 
Triple Twenties
Three Quakers have 20 or more goals this season with Handley (28), Ben Smith (24) and Cam Rubin (23). It's the fourth straight full season since 2018 (excluding 2020 and 2021) where three Penn players had 20 or more goals in a season. Handley has scored 20 or more goals in three of his four seasons for the Quakers and Rubin has set his career high for a campaign.
 
Scouting The Tigers
*Princeton had its two-game win streak halted by Cornell last Saturday afternoon in the game that decided the Ivy League regular-season champion. The Big Red topped the Tigers, 14-13 in overtime.
 
*The two teams went into the locker room at halftime tied at 7-7 before Cornell scored the first two goals of the third quarter. The Tigers held the lead on two separate occasions late in the fourth stanza before Cornell slotted the game-tying goal with 1:13 to play, and the game-winning goal with 2:23 to go in OT.
 
*Alexander Vardaro scored a hat trick, with two goals each for Alex Slusher, Christian Ronda and Lukas Stanat.
 
*Eight Princeton players earned All-Ivy recognition, announced on Wednesday. Of those, Coulter Mackesy (So., A) and Vardaro (Sr., M) were placed on the first team. Second-team honorees include Ben Finlay (Sr., D), Pace Billings (Jr., D), Michael Gianforcaro (Jr., GK), Cathal Roberts (Sr., LSM) and Beau Pederson (Jr., SSM). Ronda (Sr., M) earned an honorable-mention nod.
 
*Mackesy has a team-high 45 goals this season, adding 20 assists for 65 points. Vardaro has scored 21 goals, with 18 for Ronda. Cathal Roberts totaled a team-best 16 caused turnovers with 31 ground balls for Andrew McMeekin. Between the pipes, Gianforcaro has a GAA of 10.73 and a save percentage of .579.
 
Follow The Action
Both semifinal games on Friday will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Anish Shroff (PxP), Quint Kessenich (Analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (Sideline) on the call. Sunday's final will air live on ESPN2 at noon. Live stats will be provided for all games.