Offensive onslaught leads M. Lax to second-straight win

(Penn - 11, St. Joseph's - 2)

Just one game after an emotional upset victory over No. 11 Notre Dame, the Penn men's lacrosse team continued its convincing early season performance with an 11-2 shellacking of an inferior St. Joseph's squad at Finnesy Field on Tuesday.

"Coming off such an emotional win always creates a problem as far as duplicating the intensity from the previous game," Penn junior goalkeeper Ryan Kelly said.

But the Quakers quickly showed they would have little trouble duplicating Saturday's effort.

Senior Scott Solow led the offensive charge for Penn, netting three goals. The senior attacker began his scoring barrage by notching his first goal of the game with 1:33 left in the first quarter -- he added his second two goals during the third quarter.

"I just wanted to play within the system," Solow said. "I had some good opportunities and was fortunate to put the ball in the back of the net."

Several Penn players also struck the back of the net as the Quakers carried a commanding 7-1 lead into halftime.

Junior Alex Kopicki and freshman Zandy Reich each knotted two goals for the Quakers during the game -- Greg Voigt, Tom Pagnasis, Jake Martin each netted once.

With Penn steamrolling over the Hawks' defenders, Quakers' goalie Ryan Kelly served as a near-impenetrable last line of defense, allowing only one goal in 52:21 of play.

"I just tried to concentrate on the little things, and the results followed from there," Kelly said. "I've been playing pretty well during the past few weeks.

"It's also a great credit to the defense. It's a lot easier to block shots when the defense lets you know that the shots are coming."

Freshman Denis Cole replaced Kelly for the final seven minutes of the game. During that time, St. Joe's Chris Spray scored his second goal of the game.

"I thought that Ryan Kelly played really well," Hogan said. "Any time you hold anyone to two goals that's pretty good."

The Quakers had not limited an opponent to two goals since a 7-2 victory over Yale on March 20, 1999.

The nine-point-rout also allowed Hogan to give a number of reserves, such as Cole, significant minutes.

"During the first two weeks of the season, we play two games a week," Hogan said. "It's important to get rest for the starters, but it's also good for everyone to get experience.

"Those guys are out there busting their butts every day in practice, and it's good for them to get a chance for them to play."

Penn next travels to face Bucknell on Friday, followed by Lafayette on Monday.

"We have high hopes this season," Kelly said. "We had to come out on fire. By going 2-0 through the first two games, I definitely feel that we've turned some heads."

And not only the heads of their future opponents. After the victory over Notre Dame, Penn rose to 16th in the national rankings.

The Quakers have two remaining top-10 nationally ranked games on the schedule -- No. 1 Syracuse and No. 4 Princeton, who lost its first game of the season to Johns Hopkins on March 2.

But the Quakers will worry about those games when the time comes. Thus far, however, everything has gone according to plan.

"2-0, sure I'll take 2-0," Hogan said. "We could always be better, but right now, our guys are playing good lacrosse."

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