NEWARK, Del. – The 16th-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team used a dominant defensive performance and a balanced attack to overwhelm 17th-ranked Delaware on Saturday at the Hens' Raymond Field, 10-2.
 
Penn had eight different goal scorers on Saturday and 10 different players recorded points. At the other end, All-America goalie Emmet Carroll came up with 14 saves and finished the day with a staggering .933 save percentage. Penn allowed just two goals in a game for the first time since an 11-2 win over Dartmouth on April 20, 2013.
 
Penn improved to 2-1 on the season, while the host Blue Hens were knocked from the unbeaten ranks and also moved to 2-1.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Chris Patterson and Davis Provost were the Quakers' only multi-goal scorers, Provost scoring the first two goals of the game and Patterson scattering his in the second and fourth quarters. Both of them also had assists for three-point games.
 
*Griffin Scane was the only other player to record multiple points, with a goal and an assist.
 
*The Red and Blue's other goal scorers were Ben Smith, Cam Rubin, Chris Canet, Nate Lucchesi and Tyler Kuehl with the long pole.
 
*Another long pole, All-America defender Brendan Lavelle, had a sweet transition assist on Smith's goal, while Ben Beacham also had an assist on Saturday.
 
*Carroll's 14-save performance was his season high, and not surprisingly the .933 save percentage is a career best.
 
How It Happened
It took more than seven minutes for anyone to get on the board Saturday, but it was Provost who broke through for the Quakers when he came from behind to score on the angle. Penn then found a pattern, scoring almost literally every two minutes the rest of the period as Provost scored on a backdoor feed from Patterson, Scane went low-to-high on a low-angle effort from Beacham to make it 3-0, and Kuehl complemented the momentum of a Red and Blue penalty kill with his second collegiate goal. Penn's lead was 4-0 after one.
 
Canet made the score 5-0 when he attacked from the right side, shook off a defender and backhanded a shot home. Patterson got it to 6-0, starting behind the goal and beating his defender to a spot on the right side in time to bounce one past the UD keeper. Rubin closed out the first-half scoring with 2:15 left when he got a feed from Scane up top and, with no defenders near him, rifled one into the upper right corner. Penn's lead was 7-0 at the break.
 
Penn's only goal in the third quarter was a beauty, Penn beating the Delaware ride and Lavelle finding Smith wide open in front of the goal and threading a long-pole pass from about 40 yards away for the easy finish to make it 8-0.
 
Delaware finally got on the scoreboard with 9:47 left in the third quarter, Owen Black finishing a feed from Bennett Palmer. That score held the rest of the period, and Penn went into the final 15 with an 8-1 lead.
 
Both defenses continued their stout play, and it wasn't until Lucchesi ripped a lefty shot from up top with 7:26 left that either net was dented. Patterson closed out Penn's scoring on the day, his second of the contest an unassisted effort with 3:49 to play. Delaware got a second goal with Jake Oliver in the net in place of Carroll, Tyler Owings scoring just as the clock came upon the game's final minute.
 
Up Next
Penn is on Tobacco Road next weekend, facing No. 9 North Carolina Friday evening in Chapel Hill and No. 6 Duke Sunday in Durham. Both games will air on ACCNX.
 
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.