PHILADELPHIA – The 17th-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team could never quite get over the hump Tuesday afternoon against No. 18 Saint Joseph's, ultimately falling 11-10 to the Hawks at Franklin Field.
 
The Quakers never held a lead in Tuesday's game, and after the teams combined for 15 goals in the first half the defenses took over in the second half as the teams combined for just six goals in the final 30.
 
Penn fell to 4-4 overall while St. Joe's improved to 6-2.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outshot SJU, 33-27, and held a slight edge on the face-off X, 13-12, as freshman Stevie Davis went 10-18..
 
*Senior Ben Smith scored four goals to lead the Quakers, giving him seven in the last two games.
 
*Cam Rubin—who was kept off the scoreboard Saturday against Brown—came back with three goals on Tuesday.
 
*Sophomore Chris Patterson joined Smith in having a four-point game, with two goals and two assists.
 
*Sophomore Davis Provost was the Red and Blue's other goal scorer and added an assist for two points.
 
*Senior Luke DiNola had two assists while junior Griffin Scane, sophomore Leo Hoffman, and Travis Smith added one assist each.
 
*Senior All-America goalie Emmet Carroll finished with 12 saves.
 
How It Happened
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, as Saint Joseph's scored four times and Penn answered each of them.
 
Penn won the opening faceoff, but just 1:06 into the contest Ryan Bradley intercepted a pass for SJU and took it all the way down the field and converted a long pole goal. Patterson answered a little more than a minute later. Saint Joseph's went up 2-1 with 9:07 left, only for Smith to finish a Patterson feed just 29 seconds later. The teams traded goals over the next two minutes, the Hawks going up 3-2 with 7:38 left and Provost matching it exactly a minute later. The last two goals came in the final 2:12, SJU going in front a fourth time but Penn taking advantage of an offsides call against the Hawks to get a transition tally as Patterson finished a DiNola feed.
 
The second quarter continued the frenetic pace. SJU scored after Penn was called for offsides, only for Rubin to get on the board from up top in an extra-man opportunity 32 seconds later. St. Joe's goalie Tommy Gross intercepted a pass in front of his cage and the Hawks turned it into a goal at the other end, and then SJU scored on EMO and added a third in a row less than a minute after that. Penn head coach Mike Murphy called a timeout and that settled things, Rubin and Smith scoring in the period's final five minutes while the defense shut out the Hawks the rest of the period. Saint Joseph's took an 8-7 lead into the locker room.
 
The teams then went more than 10 minutes without scoring in the third quarter before Saint Joseph's finally ended the drought, Braedon Chayes ending a Hawks scoreless streak of 17:56 to make the score 9-7. Penn got the goal back late, Smith getting his hat trick with 1:32 left, and it was a 9-8 game heading into the final 15.
 
Penn had some hard luck early in the fourth—the Quakers looked like they had killed off a penalty, but after gaining possession the Red and Blue turned it right back over to SJU and this time the Hawks took advantage just a few seconds ahead of the penalty's conclusion. Less than 90 seconds later, Rubin found a backdoor to the front of the goal and finished a feed from Hoffman to make it 10-9.
 
More than seven minutes went off the clock before SJU got the cushion they thought might be enough with 3:13 left. However, Smith finished a Provost feed from the right side to get Penn back within a goal. Rubin nearly tied things up, ringing a shot off the crossbar as the clock went under a minute, and then Hoffman came down the chute and just missed wide with 15 seconds left. That was the best the Red and Blue could get, however, as they turned it over in the final seconds to secure the Saint Josephs' win.
 
Up Next
Penn closes out this four-game homestand on Saturday, hosting Dartmouth in an important Ivy League matchup. The Quakers and Big Green will face off at 7 p.m.
 
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.