PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team opens Ivy League play on Saturday, hosting Brown at Franklin Field.
GAME 7 – #17 PENN (3-3, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. BROWN (2-3, 0-0)
Saturday, March 15 | 1 p.m. | Franklin Field
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Game Program (PDF)
Ivy League on ESPN+
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The Series with Brown
*The Quakers and Bears are meeting for the 63rd time, with Brown leading the series 36-26.
*That said, Penn has won two of the last three and four of the last six meetings including an 11-6 decision last year in Providence.
*In last year's win,
Cam Rubin led the Penn attack with three goals while
Tynan Walsh and
Luke DiNola scored two each. Walsh also added two assists for a four-point day.
*This is another rivalry that has seen plenty of close games in recent years; of the last seven games played between these teams, three have ended as one-goal affairs and another was decided by two goals.
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.
We're Going Streaking!
GOAL STREAKS: Rubin 7 games
POINT STREAKS: Scane 14 games, Rubin 8, Provost 6, Lucchesi 6
MULTI-POINT STREAKS: Rubin 3 games
Scoring From the Long Poles in 2025
LONG POLE GOALS: Kuehl (at Delaware), Lavelle (Villanova)
LONG POLE ASSISTS: Lavelle (at Delaware)
SportsCenter Top 10
Lavelle's goal last week against Villanova—a 90-yard shot that found the back of the net in the air—not only was the Quakers' second long-pole goal this season, it also was the top play on ESPN SportsCenter's "Top 10 Plays" on Sunday morning.
Quaker Notemeal
*Following last Saturday's 11-8 win over Villanova at Franklin Field, Penn remained in all three national polls when they came out on Monday. The Quakers are a consensus No. 17 by
Inside Lacrosse,
USA Lacrosse Magazine, and the USILA coaches' poll.
*
Griffin Scane scored a career-high five goals to lead the attack against the Wildcats, while senior
Cam Rubin scored twice. Senior
Ben Smith dished out three assists while sophomore
Leo Hoffman had two. At the other end, senior All-America goalie
Emmet Carroll made 14 saves (.636 save percentage) and the defense shut out VU through the first half (taking a 6-0 lead to the locker room).
*The weekend before that, Penn was on Tobacco Road and fell to then-No. 4 North Carolina (16-8) and No. 5 Duke (11-6). One of the highlights from the weekend was Carroll, who had 13 saves in the loss to the Blue Devils which included his 500th wearing the Red and Blue uniform. He became the first goalie to reach the milestone since Reed Junkin (647 from 2016-19).
*Rubin led Penn in both games in Carolina, with four goals against the Tar Heels and two more against Duke.
*In a 10-2 win at then-No. 17 Delaware on February 22, 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, 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. 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 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 Rubin had two goals and an assist. 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; Rubin enters Saturday's games against the Bears at 111 career points (89g/22a) while Smith has 110 (80g/30a).
*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 over Villanova gave him 108 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.
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