Best chance yet for M. Lax to get Ivy win

Today's men's lacrosse match may not determine the Ivy League champion, but at the moment it looms pretty large for the Quakers.

The team will attempt to halt its six-game losing streak against Dartmouth at 4 p.m. this afternoon at Franklin Field. Both teams have been disappointing thus far this season - the Red and Blue (1-6, 0-3 Ivy) and Big Green (2-6, 0-1) are the only two Ivy squads without a conference win.

"There's no secret that both Dartmouth and us are struggling right now," coach Brian Voelker said. "But the bottom line is the team that comes out and plays the hardest is going to be the team that wins the game, and we want it to be us."

For the Quakers, the difficulty has been on the defensive end. They have allowed 13.57 goals per game, good for sixth-worst in the nation. Last week, Cornell's 21 goals tied the most allowed by any of Voelker's Penn squads.

However, the cure may be a weak offense, and Dartmouth fills in perfectly. The Big Green are last in the Ivy League in goals, assists, points, shots and man-up goals per contest. They also get the fewest ground balls per game.

But the Quakers are not confident that they can take advantage of Dartmouth's weaknesses. The defensive unit knows that the team will not win unless it greatly improves its performance.

"I think regardless of how they're doing offensively, defensively we can't really make an excuse for how we've done this year," defense Joe Kelly said. "So I think either way, maybe they're not doing so well offensively, it's almost irrelevant to how we've been preparing."

The Penn offense finally seems to be approaching its preseason expectations, notching 11 goals in each of its last two games. And Dartmouth doesn't look to be an especially strong defensive threat, as it allows more than 12 goals per game.

Dartmouth freshman goalkeeper Fergus Campbell has done his best to lower that total, leading the league in saves per game, with 13.33 in his three starts. He stopped 17 shots in the Big Green's 12-6 loss last week to No. 9 Duke.

If recent history is any indicator, every shot and every save could make a huge difference in today's game. The Penn-Dartmouth matchup has been decided by a single goal the past four years. The Red and Blue have won the past three, including a 9-8 overtime victory last year. Voelker and the Quakers, however, are hoping for something a bit more decisive today.

"We've been lucky enough to win some close ones the last couple of years with those guys," Voelker said. "Hopefully it won't be that close but we'll win the game. [But] if it's that close and we win, I'll take it."

And a win will prove critical toward garnering a bit of momentum heading into a tough stretch. After the struggling Big Green, Penn will take on currently-ranked No. 5 Princeton, No. 8 Maryland and No. 12 Brown in the next two weeks.

"This is our chance to really get the ball rolling again," Kelly said. "We still have a lot of big games left in the season, so we need to start with this one and hopefully . we can make this season a lot better than it's looking right now."

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