NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The 20th-ranked University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team used a dominant second-half performance—especially on defense—to defeat Yale on Saturday afternoon at Reese Stadium, 9-7.
 
The Quakers were down 6-3 late in the first half, but scored in the final minute of the second quarter and then ripped off the first five goals in the second half, holding the Bulldogs to just one goal over the final 31:20 of game time.
 
Penn (4-4) earned its first Ivy League win of the season, leveling its league record at 1-1, and snapped a modest two-game losing streak to the Bulldogs (3-4, 0-2).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn outshot Yale, 42-31, putting 23 on goal to the Bulldogs' 14.
 
*Penn committed just eight turnovers on Saturday—a team low this season by a wide margin (the previous low was 12)—and was a season-best +7 in the category.
 
*The teams split the faceoff X, both winning ten on the day; Mac Eldridge went 6-of-11 on his matchups while Ethan Costanzo finished 4-of-6.
 
*Davis Provost was Penn's only multi-goal scorer on Saturday, with three for his fifth hat trick this season. Among his goals, he scored the one that gave the Quakers their first lead and one they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the day.
 
*Four players finished the day with a goal and an assist for two-point days: senior Griffin Scane, junior Ben Beacham, sophomore Nate Lucchesi, and freshman Jackson Maher.
 
*Travis Smith and Grayson McClements were Penn's other goal scorers on Saturday, while Pearse MacDonald had an assist for his first point since Delaware a month ago.
 
*Sophomore Jack Pelot finished the day with seven saves, his sixth game this season with a save percentage of .500 or better.
 
*Matt Wills had three caused turnovers on Saturday as Penn tied a season high with nine as a team (also against Villanova and North Carolina).
 
How It Happened
Yale opened the scoring with a man-down goal, a harbinger of things to come as both teams struggled with their extra-man offenses all game long. Provost tied it up exactly two minutes later with a lefty from up top, but only 50 seconds after that the Bulldogs were back in front and then doubled their lead with 7:52 left in the period. Penn scored twice in the final 23 seconds of the quarter, Maher scoring on an inside dodge near the left post and then Provost diving around the right side from behind, tying it at 3-3 after 15 minutes.
 
Yale had gone scoreless for more than 14 minutes before scoring with 8:35 left in the second, going in front 4-3. The Bulldogs then tallied two more in a row, the first coming with 4:13 left in the half and the second with 1:20, but Beacham found McClements on the doorstep with less than 10 seconds left in the half to get the Quakers within two at the break.
 
There were only two goals in the third quarter, and both came from the Red and Blue. Smith sniped one from the left slot for Penn's only extra-man goal of the day with 4:55 left, and then just 42 seconds later Lucchesi charged in from nearly midfield for a speed dodge and a rifle up top that tied things at 6-6. That score held the rest of the period.
 
Provost was left open up top and made Yale pay with another long-distance howitzer for his third of the day. That goal with 12:28 left gave the Quakers their first lead of the day, at 7-6. Less than a minute later, Beacham got the ball up top, dodged around a defender and fired it home, and less than a minute after that Scane got on the board when he came around from behind and converted a backhander by the right post. Overall, it was a three-goal run that took 1:47 of game time and suddenly Penn was in complete control.
 
Yale finally got back on the board with 6:35 left, ending a scoreless drought of 23:45 of game time, but it was all the Bulldogs could muster for a comeback as Penn's defense held up the rest of the way.
 
Up Next
Penn is back on the road again next Saturday, traveling to Hanover to face Dartmouth in another important Ivy League matchup. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Scully-Fahey Field.
 
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.