Now or never for M. Lax

By brandon moyse

Staff Writer

bmoyse@sas.upenn.edu

Things haven't gone well for the men's lacrosse team lately.

After starting off at 3-0, Penn (4-4, 1-2 Ivy) has just one win in its five games since, with the latest result a 20-5 drubbing at the hands of No. 1 Cornell last Saturday.

While nobody is calling today's game against Dartmouth (4-3, 1-0) a "must-win," Quakers captain David Cornbrooks admits that "this is definitely an important week for us. We can turn our season around with a win."

His coach, Brian Voelker, asserts that while every game counts for the same, "it's imperative for us to win and get back on the right track."

The team has had a week to recover from the Cornell whitewash. Voelker said that it was "one of those games that you have to talk about," and he emphasized to his team that it was only one loss. The team had to look ahead, Voelker added.

But rather than crafting a game plan tailored to beating the Big Green, the Quakers have just tried to iron out their recently poor play.

Sophomore attacker Craig Andrzejewski said that practice this week has accordingly been about working "really hard . to eliminate those mistakes that have cost us all year."

But fixing all of those mistakes may take more than a week. And Dartmouth, while not nearly the best opponent on Penn's schedule, is still a team that poses its own problems for the Quakers.

The biggest threat that the Big Green brings to the table is their potent attack.

Senior Nick Bonacci, who Voelker called "one of the best players in our league," has scored 14 goals and notched 12 assists this season despite his small stature (5-foot-9, 160 pounds).

He's joined by freshman Ari Sussman and sophomore Brian Koch. The two have combined for 30 goals this season. Altogether, the trio accounts for a whopping 70 percent of Dartmouth's goal production.

According to Cornbrooks, the Big Green have an athletic midfield and also do a good job of winning faceoffs.

Slowing them down is no easy task, but the Quakers believe that the game can be won by taking the fight to Dartmouth's third of the field.

"They have a young goalie and a young defense," Voelker said. "We have to take advantage of that by controlling the ball."

That may be easier said than done. Penn has turned the ball over 15 more times than its opponents this season and has also caused seven fewer.

Dartmouth has done a good job of limiting turnovers and also of causing them, leading opponents in both statistics.

But if something good is going to happen for the Quakers, it will come at home. Only two of their eight games have been at home, and both were good for wins.

Voelker said that he doesn't believe in home-field advantage, but his players feel otherwise.

"It's nice to come back home after being on the road so much," Andrejewski said. "We're comfortable here."

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