PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team is on Tobacco Road this weekend for a pair of games, ending a three-game road trip with games against teams that enter the weekend ranked in the top five nationally and undefeated as the Quakers' brutal early-season slate continues.
 
Penn makes this trip in concert with Princeton for the second year in a row, the Tigers reversing the Quakers and playing Duke on Friday and UNC on Sunday.
 
GAME 4 – #14 PENN (2-1) at #4 NORTH CAROLINA (3-0)
Friday, Feb. 28 | 5 p.m. | Chapel Hill, N.C.
Watch on ACCNX ($) | Live Stats
 
GAME 5 – #14 PENN at #5 DUKE (4-0)
Sunday, March 2 | Noon | Durham, N.C.
Watch on ACCNX ($) | Live Stats
 
The Series with UNC
The Quakers and Tar Heels are meeting for the 15th time overall, with UNC holding a 9-5 lead in the series. Last year was the first matchup in this series since 2011—that was a 10-6 Penn win at Franklin Field in Philadelphia—and Carolina got a 13-9 victory in Chapel Hill.
 
The Series with Duke
The Quakers and Blue Devils are meeting for the 14th time overall, with Penn holding an 8-5 lead in the series. The teams have met every season since 2018—a reminder the Red and Blue played a limited schedule in 2021 due to Ivy League restrictions—and 11 times since 2010.
 
Penn won last year's game in Durham, 14-12, in the process knocking off a Duke team that was ranked No. 1 nationally. (The program's only other win against a No. 1 team also came against Duke, 10-9 in 2018 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.) Ben Smith and Luke DiNola both had three-goal, two-assists performances in last year's win, while Emmet Carroll made 17 saves in goal. The show-stopper, of course, was defenseman Brendan Lavelle, who held Duke All-America attackman Brennan O'Neill to a single goal.
 
Strong Schedule…Again!
Penn head coach Mike Murphy—a Duke alum and captain of the Blue Devils' 1991 squad—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.
 
We're Going Streaking!
GOAL STREAKS: Scane 11 games, Rubin 4, Provost 3
 
POINT STREAKS: Scane 11 games, Smith 5, Rubin 5, Provost 3, Lucchesi 3
 
MULTI-POINT STREAKS: Scane 4 games, Patterson 2, Provost 2
 
Scoring From the Long Poles in 2025
LONG POLE GOALS: Kuehl (at Delaware)
 
LONG POLE ASSISTS: Lavelle (at Delaware)
 
Quaker Notemeal
*After a pair of wins last week, against unranked UAlbany (14-8) and at then-No. 17 Delaware (10-2), Penn moved up in rank in all three national polls this week: 12th by USA Lacrosse Magazine, 13th by Inside Lacrosse, and 14th by the USILA.
 
*In last Saturday's win over the Blue Hens, senior All-America goalie Emmet Carroll posted 14 saves and allowed just one goal (.933 save percentage) as the Quakers gave up the fewest goals in a game since an 11-2 win over Dartmouth on April 20, 2013. Not surprisingly, he was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, sharing the honor with Brown goalie Connor Foley.
 
*Offensively, Penn had eight different goal scorers and 10 different players who recorded at least a point against the Hens. Sophomores Davis Provost and Chris Patterson both had two-goal, one-assist performances to lead the attack. Junior Griffin Scane was the only other multi-point player for the Quakers, with a goal and an assist, and he is the only player so far this season with multiple points in every game so far.
 
*In the win over the UAlbany on February 18, the Quakers never trailed in the game and used a 6-1 run after the Danes got within 5-4 midway through the second quarter to cruise to victory.
 
*Patterson and senior Ben Smith led the attack against UA, 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.
 
*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 the UAlbany win; Smith enters this weekend in Carolina at 105 career points (78g/27a) while Rubin is at 103 (81g/22a).
 
*Another sophomore who scored his first collegiate goal in the UAlbany game was Jacob Pacheco.
 
*Rubin led the attack in the season opener at Georgetown on February 15, 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; last Saturday's victory gave him 107 as the Red and Blue's mentor.
 
*On the field, all eyes this season 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.