M. Lax can re-enter elusive top 20

A preseason No. 13, the men's lacrosse team has since fallen from the rankings, despite a 10-6 win over Villanova Friday.

But their home opener against Lehigh this evening will present a chance for the Quakers to break into the top 20 again.

Although not ranked, Lehigh is coming off a big win, an 8-6 upset of No. 17 Drexel.

The Mountain Hawks (1-1) are fairly evenly matched with Penn, and the win over the Dragons proves that they are not to be taken lightly.

After the victory at Villanova kicked off their 2007 campaign, the Quakers (1-0) will take on the Mountain Hawks in their first real challenge of the young season.

"They play hard," said head coach Brian Voelker. "They have good athletes on both side of the field. . They're going to be a tough game for us."

The victory came at the expense of a Drexel team that was just a few days removed from a huge upset of its own, over then-No. 1 Virginia, the defending national champs.

But Lehigh did open its season with a loss, albeit to a strong Delaware squad.

Leading the Mountain Hawks' offense is senior Steve Marino. The attacker leads the team in points, with five so far on the season. His three goals so far have come on only eight shots.

"They have some pretty strong players on the offensive end," said senior defender Matt Kelleher. "There are definitely some people to key in on."

Lehigh midfielder Jeff Wiener will also be a danger to the Quakers. The midfielder picked up three goals in the win over the Dragons, and leads his team with four on the season.

Over Lehigh's two games so far, junior goalie Eric Spirko has allowed an average of 7.5 goals behind a generally solid defense.

"Defensively, they have some big, athletic kids, but . if we move the ball well we should be able to score goals," Voelker said.

One area where Lehigh may be particularly vulnerable is in faceoffs. Through their two games, they have picked up 12 faceoffs, in comparison to their opponents' 24.

That may turn out to be important for Penn - in the Quakers' opener against Villanova, they lost 15 of their 20 faceoffs. Playing against a team with similar struggles may nullify this particular weak point.

The Quakers were led on Friday by sophomore midfielder Drew Collins, who had two goals and an assist. Senior goalie Gregory Klossner was key to the win as well, tallying an excellent .750 save percentage, allowing only six goals in the process.

If Penn is to defeat the Mountain Hawks, they will have to count on another strong performance from Klossner, as well as more potent offensive performances from sophomore attackers Craig Andrzejewski and Casey O'Rourke.

After the generally strong performance at Villanova, though, the important thing is to keep the momentum going, according to senior midfielder David Cornbrooks.

"We need to just keep playing the way we've been playing."

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