NOTEBOOK: M. Lax battles through unusual road trip

The Penn men's lacrosse players who are also in FIJI spent eight days in a hotel. Any athlete can tell you that playing on the road means sacrificing more than just fan support. The adjustment to travel and hotel accommodations can result in sluggish play, even for the most resilient team. "It's always easier to play at home, but road trips are a part of the season and something that you have to deal with," Penn men's lacrosse player Brett Bodner said. "If you want to be a good team, you should really get off the bus and play." Bodner and many of his teammates may be more familiar with such road woes than the average Quaker. As residents of the Phi Gamma Delta house that was evacuated on Sunday, March 21, these players endured road-game-like conditions for a mid-season span of eight days. The brothers were forced to move into a hotel after the alcohol-related death of a Penn alumnus at the house. "It's tough, particularly because it's just one more thing we have to worry about," Bodner said of the move. "At one point, I think there were like three rooms for 19 guys. It was just one more concern and something that we'd like to put behind us. A lot of guys have moved back into their old rooms and they're just trying to get over it." According to coach Marc Van Arsdale, the Quakers have done just that. While acknowledging that the disruption was impossible for his players to ignore, the second-year coach gave credit to his seniors for maintaining the team's focus. "I don't think it's been been that much of a factor," Van Arsdale said of the incident. "It's naive to say that it wasn't on anyone's mind, but our loss to Harvard was from a lack of execution, not a lack of focus." "I think that all of the players and the coaches have improved from last year in terms of focusing on what we have to do," senior Ziggy Majumdar said. "We've done a good job separating what happens on the field with what goes on off the field." · Falling 8-7 in overtime to Harvard last weekend dropped Penn out of first place in the Ivy League standings and allowed the Crimson to rise to the top. The Quakers (5-2, 1-1 Ivy League) are now in second place. "I think on the whole that we're a deeper team [than Harvard] and I definitely think we should have won," Bodner said. "I think that we took them too lightly, to be honest. We were ready to play but I think that confidence just slowly drifted into a form of arrogance. We didn't have the right respect for them when they came out and took it to us." "We learned to never let your guard down," Majumdar said. "You have to pay attention to the little things." The Quakers may be feeling the effects of that tough loss but the next opponents on their schedule can certainly empathize. Penn faces Cornell this Saturday and the Big Red are coming off a one-goal loss to Yale, 7-6. What's more, Penn has had a solid week to prepare for the Big Red -- a rare stretch without games that Van Arsdale feels will help on Saturday. "It gives us the opportunity to go hard for a few days straight in practice," Van Arsdale said. "We don't usually have that kind of opportunity." · At the midpoint of their season, the Quakers have noted striking differences between this year's squad and the team that won just four games last season, particularly on the defensive end. Matt Schroeder is leading the Quakers in net, allowing just 6.65 goals per game. But according to the senior, Penn's overall defense is much improved -- not in strategy or positioning, but in attitude. "I've seen a lot of changes in terms of the team unity. The team defense has made an incredible jump," Schroeder said. "I think it's different now that we have guys like Mike Kehoe and Shane Lavery. Those guys want to be playing defense whereas last year? guys might have been thinking about getting goals. "Those guys know that they want to be playing defense first and they can get their goals in transition. That's what's going to help the team. We haven't changed anything as far as offense and defense, it's just that everyone's not trying to score goals. Guys know that as long as the team gets the goal, we're all better off."

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