PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team is on the road for its next three games, starting Saturday when the 16th-ranked Quakers make the short trip down 95 to face Delaware. The Red and Blue and 17th-ranked Blue Hens are scheduled to face off at noon, with Penn trying to pin UD with its first loss in the young season.
 
GAME 3 – #16 PENN (1-1) at #17 DELAWARE (2-0)
Saturday, Feb. 22 | Noon | Newark, Del.
Watch on LacrosseTV ($) | Live Stats
 
The Series with Delaware
The Quakers and Blue Hens are meeting for the 31st time overall, with Penn holding a 22-8 lead in the series. This is the second year in a row the teams have met, with last year's meeting ending a 23-year drought in the series after they met regularly from 1980 to 2001.
 
In last year's game, Penn outscored Delaware 5-1 in the third quarter and then held on in the fourth to gain an 11-10 win at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Cam Rubin scored three goals and Luke DiNola added two goals and an assist to lead the offense, and at the other end Emmet Carroll came up with 16 saves.
 
Strong Schedule…Again!
Penn head coach Mike Murphy has long been known for his strength of schedule, but he might have outdone himself in 2025. The Quakers' 14-game regular-season schedule features eight games against teams that were ranked in the USILA Preseason Top 20—five of them against Top 10 teams and three against the preseason Top 4—with four others against teams in the "receiving votes" section.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Despite a season-opening, 8-6 loss at current USILA No. 11 Georgetown last Saturday, Penn remains ranked in all three national polls this week: 15th by USA Lacrosse Magazine, 16th by the USILA, and 17th by Inside Lacrosse.
 
*Earlier this week, Penn hosted UAlbany at Franklin Field and defeated the Great Danes, 14-8. The Quakers never trailed in the game, using a 6-1 run after the Danes got within 5-4 midway through the second quarter to go in front 11-5 and cruise from there.
 
*Sophomore Chris Patterson and senior Ben Smith led the attack on Tuesday, both finishing with five points as Patterson scored a game-high four goals and Smith recorded a hat trick and dished out two assists. For Patterson, they were his first collegiate points.
 
*Junior Griffin Scane also had a hat trick, while senior Cam Rubin had two goals and an assist. Sophomore Davis Provost had his first multi-point game of the season and fourth at Penn, with a goal and an assist.
 
*Both Smith and Rubin surpassed the 100-point mark in their careers during Tuesday's win. Smith is now at 104 career points (77g/27a) while Rubin is at 102 (80g/22a).
 
*Another sophomore who scored his first collegiate goal on Tuesday was Jacob Pacheco.
 
*Rubin led the attack last Saturday in D.C., with a goal and two assists, while Scane was the Quakers' only multi-goal scorer. The other goal scorers were sophomore Leo Hoffman, Provost and Nate Lucchesi (the freshman netting his first collegiate tally).
 
*At the other end, Carroll finished with 13 saves and the Penn defense forced Georgetown into six shot-clock violations among its 14 turnovers.
 
*The Red and Blue were picked fourth in the Ivy League's Preseason Media Poll, which was announced on February 7. Penn got 57 voting points and were behind Cornell (90 points/9 first-place votes), Princeton (87/4) and Yale (71/1). The Quakers were voted ahead of Harvard (45), Brown (27) and Dartmouth (15).
 
*Now in his 16th season as Penn's head coach, Murphy is the program's all-time winningest coach; Tuesday's victory gave him 106 as the Red and Blue's mentor.
 
*On the field, all eyes will be on a pair of fifth-year seniors for the Quakers: goalie Emmet Carroll and defenseman Brendan Lavelle.
 
*Carroll's preseason honors: Consensus first-team All-America (USILA, Inside Lacrosse, USA Lacrosse Magazine); Tewaaraton Award Preseason Watch List; Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year by USA Lax Mag; #4 on the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Top 50.
 
*Lavelle's preseason honors: Consensus first-team All-America (USILA, Inside Lacrosse, USA Lacrosse Magazine); Tewaaraton Award Preseason Watch List; Preseason Defenseman of the Year by USA Lax Mag; #10 on the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Top 50.
 
*Carroll in 2024: Consensus second-team All-America, Tewaaraton Award nominee and first-team All-Ivy selection. Finished with a .594 save percentage—leading the nation in that category—and posted a 10.82 goals-against average. That included his scintillating performance in the Ivy League Tournament, where Carroll came up with a career-high 19 saves in a semifinal win over Cornell and followed it up with another career high (20) in the final against Princeton.
 
*Lavelle in 2024: Consensus first-team All-America and unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection. His most noteworthy performance last year came against No. 1 Duke, when he totaled six ground balls and two caused turnovers and held reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Brennan O'Neill to just one goal on eight shots as Penn handed the top-ranked Blue Devils their first loss of the year.
 
*Coincidentally, both Carroll and Lavelle changed their numbers from last year, Carroll from 22 to 19 and Lavelle from 46 to 41. Both numbers hold significant prestige and responsibility in the Penn program:
- 19 was the number worn by the late James Farrell C'18, captain of Penn's 2018 team who was killed in July 2021 when an Uber he was riding in was struck head-on by a drunk driver in an accident that claimed five lives.
- In the Murphy era, 41 has become the number worn annually by the player viewed as the leader of the defensive unit.
- In both cases, the numbers are "legacy" numbers passed down by the previous season's wearer—in this case, James Shipley (last year's #19) and Peter Blake (last year's #41).
 
*Other players who received preseason honors ahead of the 2025 campaign include attackmen Cam Rubin and Tynan Walsh, who got Preseason All-America honorable mention recognition from USA Lax Mag; and sophomore Anthony McMullan, who received Preseason All-America honorable mention from Inside Lacrosse.
 
*Penn returns four All-Ivy players from a year ago: Carroll, Lavelle and Rubin were first-team All-Ivy selections while senior Ethan Till was a second-team All-Ivy pick by the Ancient Eight coaches.
 
*Among the newcomers, five of them earned a spot on the Inside Lacrosse Power 100 freshmen rankings during the fall: defenseman Dante Vardaro was ranked 25th, midfielder Paul vanBastelaar was 28th, FOGO Stevie Davis was 41st, defenseman Matt Wills was 48th, and attacker/midfielder Nate Lucchesi was 91st.
 
*Carroll, Lavelle and Walsh will serve as this season's captains.
 
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.