M. Lax eyes redemption in weekend Ivy contests

The true mettle of a team is shown in how it deals with adversity. And if that's true, the Penn men's lacrosse team will be tested this weekend, as the Quakers look to rebound from two tough losses. Last Saturday, the Red and Blue (3-3, 1-2 Ivy League) lost an overtime match to Cornell. And Princeton treated Penn to a 19-8 drubbing on Tuesday. But the Red and Blue are up for the challenge of turning their luck around. "This team has the best attitude of any team I've been on, in terms of reacting well to adversity," Penn junior Read Mortimer said. "People came out and played hard, and we're looking forward to an opportunity to go out and play hard and set things right." The Quakers are going to get the perfect chance to claim their second Ivy win this weekend, as they host Dartmouth (3-3, 0-0) at 1 p.m. on Saturday and then travel to Brown (3-3, 1-0) on Sunday. Penn senior attacker Todd Minerley termed the game against the Big Green "one of the biggest games of our season." Dartmouth is a serious offensive threat -- as well as stingy in allowing goals. The Big Green, led by sophomore Scott Roslyn with 10 goals, currently rank third in the Ivies in overall team scoring. And, with goalie Mike Gault -- who has played all but six-and-a-half minutes this season -- in the net, the squad only allows 6.67 goals per contest. In contrast, Penn's opponents average nine. But the Quakers are confident that they can pull their team together and get back to their winning ways. "If we can play the game we're capable of playing, we should have a great game...," Minerley said. "We've just got to get this win under our belts and just start winning again." A victory against the Big Green would certainly help the Quakers momentum-wise against Brown. The Bears will be riding high from their own recent thriller -- a four-overtime comeback against Yale. And while Brown's .500 record isn't intimidating, all three of its losses have come against top-10 squads. Most recently, Brown lost a 15-4 game to No. 2 Syracuse. The Red and Blue realize that, this weekend, wins won't come easy. But, after a series of strong practices following their last loss, the Quakers are confident they are ready. "I think losing that bad [to Princeton], there's not many benefits coming from that," Minerley said. "But it helped us work harder.... "We're just going to build on what we've done well in the past and hope that leads us to a win."

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