M. Lax tops Dartmouth on the road

Adam Solow scored twice in his return to the school that he attended for two years. After four unsuccessful attempts, the Penn men's lacrosse team came back from Dartmouth this weekend with its first Ivy League victory of the 2000 season in hand. The Quakers (5-5, 1-4 Ivy League) had lost to Ivy rivals Yale, Harvard, Cornell and Princeton before picking up the 7-4 victory against the Big Green (3-4, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon in Hanover, N.H. "It was definitely huge to get the win at Dartmouth," co-captain Pete Janney said. "Losing to the other Ivy teams was getting a little stale, and we didn't want to go 0-6 in the league." While the win gives the Red and Blue confidence for the remaining four games in the season, the victory was not always a given. The Quakers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after goals by Janney, middie Kevin Cadin and middie Adam Solow. Janney scored 51 seconds into the game off a set play following a face-off. Janney won the face-off and passed the ball back to Penn's Billy Reidy. Reidy fed the ball to Janney, who fired it on goal for the first score of the game. Cadin followed suit 10 minutes later, netting his first of two goals on the day for the Quakers. The third score of the first quarter came from Solow. His goal was especially meaningful considering the fact that he transferred from Dartmouth this season after leading the Big Green in scoring in 1999. "It was important for Adam to get going early," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "He did, and played a good game." Penn's momentum would switch quickly, as Dartmouth capitalized on Quakers turnovers and knotted the game at three going into halftime. "We made really stupid mistakes in the second quarter," Janney said. "We didn't handle the ball well on the perimeter. We made a lot of bad passes and didn't give the offense enough opportunities overall." The lack of focus illustrated in the second frame did not carry over in the third, however. The Quakers, who spent time in the nation's top 20 earlier on in the season, rebounded to pull away from the Big Green, the usual cellar-dweller of the Ivy League. Dartmouth goalie Mike Gault went out early in the third quarter with an injury, and the Quakers took advantage. With just over four minutes gone by in the second half, Reidy, unassisted, scored the most crucial goal of the day to make the score 4-3 in Penn's favor. "Reidy was all over the field," Van Arsdale said. "He got to a bunch of ground balls, and we were able to let out a sigh of relief after he scored in the third." Five minutes later, Cadin put the ball past backup Dartmouth netminder Patrick McClammer, in what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Cadin had two assists to go along with his two goals. "I was just working off the ball, and I was in the right place at the right time," Cadin said. "We moved the ball around pretty well in the second half." Following Casey Burlage's second goal of the day for the Big Green, the Solow brothers scored the last two goals of the contest. First, Adam found the net. Then Scott scored to preserve the 7-4 win. Scott also tallied two assists. Penn goalie Ryan Kelly made 15 saves in the victory. With the victory at Dartmouth, the team hopes it can relax now that it no longer needs to worry about winning an Ivy game. "Hopefully, because the team has more confidence, it will lead to us loosening up a little," Van Arsdale said. "The effort and intensity was certainly there, but the execution isn't always there, which can be a sign of the team being a little uptight." One area of the field that certainly gained confidence from Hanover was the defense. Besides holding the Big Green to just four goals, the backline consistently held off Dartmouth attackers on breakaways when the offense turned the ball over. "The team defense was very strong," Janney said. "They were really convincing in the first quarter and continued that play throughout the game. Ryan played a great game in goal as well." With four games to go, the Quakers know they can still make something of their season. With games against Villanova, Brown, Syracuse and Delaware, they know all the games will be hard-fought but winnable. "We've been practicing well for the last week," Van Arsdale said. "The game this weekend was not picture perfect, and we know we can keep getting better."

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