The men's lacrosse team was determined not to squander another three-goal lead.
After Villanova closed within one goal with under two minutes left, the Quakers were able to stave off a comeback, holding on to win 7-6 on Saturday at Franklin Field.
"We made some mistakes at the end, we made some mistakes during the game to keep them in the game, but the bottom line is we did what it took to win and that's what's important," coach Brian Voelker said.
The win was the Quakers' first of the season; in their opener last week, they led 8-7 late in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell 9-8 to No. 18 Drexel.
Freshman Al Kohart put the Wildcats in an early hole, scoring in the first minute. After Villanova's Tim Langan answered 59 seconds later, Kohart added his second goal - one that would give Penn the lead for the rest of the game.
Although Penn opened up a three-goal lead on two separate instances, Villanova stayed in the game thanks in large part to the play of Wildcats goalie Andrew DiLoreto, who had thirteen saves.
"I knew going into this week that we'd have to take good shots and put them in good spots," Voelker said, acknowledging DiLoreto's talent. "We did that at times, and at times we slowed down a little bit."
The game got interesting toward the end, when the Wildcats scored with 1:50 left, just moments after their powerplay expired.
Junior captain Craig Andrzejewski and the Penn attack, however, held onto the ball for the remainder of the game, giving Villanova no chance to tie.
While Andrzejewski had a goal and two assists and junior Alex Weber added two goals, it was Kohart who led Penn in scoring with a hat trick. The freshman has seen increased minutes due to junior Drew Collins' season-ending torn ACL.
"Al really stepped up yesterday," Andrzejewski said. "We needed him to have a good day yesterday for us to win, and he did a real good job shooting the ball."
Statistically, the Quakers held a major advantage. They had 15 more shots, seven more faceoff wins and six more ground balls than their opponent.
But there were also plenty of Red and Blue miscues. They turned the ball over 16 times and were called for a delay of game penalty late in the fourth quarter, which Voelker says is a first for his squad.
"You're going to make mistakes," he said.
"But when you can overcome those mistakes is when you see teams start to grow up and become good teams."
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