M. Lax drops to 'Cuse; tops Villanova in finale

The Penn men's lacrosse team wanted to show it could play with the best teams in the nation.

Through three quarters it did just that.

Unfortunately for the No. 15 Quakers (8-4, 3-3) games last four quarters. And it was a late final period burst that allowed fourth-ranked Syracuse (10-2) to overcome Penn, 12-7, at Franklin Field on Friday.

The Quakers were buried by a 6-0 run over 25 minutes in the second half after Penn senior Mike Iannacone tied the game at six in the third quarter.

"This was the game we expected," Penn senior captain Scott Marimow said. "We expected to hang with them the whole game."

The loss came despite a Herculean effort by junior goaltender Ryan Kelly who almost singlehandedly kept the Quakers in the game in the second period with 11 saves. He had a career-high 20 saves on the afternoon.

"He's just been playing out of his mind for us all year," junior defenseman Stephen Brown said. "Today he just stepped up and played unreal."

The Quakers jumped out to a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the game as Sonny Sarker scored his seventh goal of the season from Jake Martin. Martin also scored in the first, but the Orangemen put three past Kelly to take a 3-2 lead.

The Quakers were able to keep it close in the second thanks to Kelly. Syracuse dominated possession by winning all seven faceoffs but was held to three goals. Penn scored a trio of its own to keep pace.

Only Syracuse sophomore attack Mike Powell had Kelly's number. Powell, the reigning Attackman of the Year, had a hat trick before halftime.

"He's a great player," said Marimow, who was the Penn player most responsible for defending Powell. "I have tremendous respect for him. He's as quick as they come and very opportunistic on fast breaks."

Scott Solow, Peter Scott and Martin each tallied in the second for Penn to trail at the half, 6-5.

"The first half showed where the program is going," Kelly said. "Penn's here. We're ready to start taking down some top teams."

And playing Syracuse -- the top-ranked team for most of the season -- gave them that chance.

Iannacone tied the game at six with 13:27 to go in the quarter, picking up a loose ball and firing it past Syracuse goalie Jay Pfeifer.

But then, things fell apart for the Quakers. Penn failed to score another goal until 3:05 remained in the game -- a tally by freshamn Zandy Reich -- by which time the Red and Blue trailed, 12-6.

Josh Coffman scored with 9:32 to put the 'Cuse up, 7-6, and the floodgates opened. Powell picked up his fourth goal of the game three minutes later to make it 8-6 heading into the final period.

"Up to when it got to four in a row we thought we were still in it," Penn coach Matt Hogan said. "We got tired and let up a bit at that point."

Although Syracuse ran away at the end, the Quakers proved something important to themselves.

"What our kids proved was that they worked hard," Hogan said. "When I got this job that was always the knock on Penn kids, that they didn't work. They've proved that they work."

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