M. Lax stumbles in first Ivy tournament appearance

Penn’s Friday match-up with Harvard was a testament to how far the Quakers have come since a 1-5 Ivy record just last year.

Earning a No. 2 seed for the Ancient Eight tournament, the Red and Blue squared off against their Cambridge counterparts for a first-round game in Ithaca, N.Y. — the home of national powerhouse and nine-time reigning Ivy champs, Cornell.

But from the first whistle, it was the Crimson playing with shades of Big Red dominating the face-off circle early to come away with a 12-8 victory.

The extra possession time allowed Harvard (10-5) to take advantage of a Penn squad that is sorely missing injured All-Ivy defenseman Maxx Meyer, but the Crimson offense was far from sympathetic.

Making the most of his opportunities, Harvard junior Jeff Cohen notched a hat trick before intermission, hardly cradling the ball on any of his three touch shots.

Reminiscent of last week’s contest at Virginia, the Quakers (8-6) found themselves in a 7-1 hole — this time as early as the second quarter.

In two games since losing Meyer against Dartmouth, the Red and Blue have been outscored 23-10.

Penn coach Mike Murphy admitted the absence is noticeable, and his defensive unit may still be making adjustments.

“We did a few things today that were somewhat out of character for us defensively,” he said. “Maxx wasn’t there to back us up or be able to communicate through some of the slide packages.

“We’re not making excuses, but Maxx tends to do a lot of that stuff,” Murphy added.

The Red and Blue had signs of life to start the second half, with senior Al Kohart notching two of his three goals early in the third quarter.

It seemed Penn might close the gap further, down 9-5 with possession, when a penalty on freshman Drew Belinsky turned the ball over and led to a Crimson man-up score.

“We had the momentum, we started making the plays and then we did that,” Murphy said. “And even worse, we had a ground ball opportunity after that…and we just missed it.”

The Quakers would get no closer for the rest of the game.

When yielding ten or more goals, the Red and Blue had posted a 0-4 record on the season, and Friday’s loss against Harvard tacks one more onto that ‘L’ column.

But the real question going forward is what happens Sunday when the NCAA tournament field is announced.

Had Penn won Friday, their ticket would likely have been punched—regardless of the Ivy championship outcome.

Now it’s the waiting game as the Red and Blue have nothing more that they’re able to present to the selection committee.

“We didn’t help ourselves a whole lot today in terms of being selected,” Murphy said. “Most of our fate is not really in our hands at this point.”

Should the Quakers land one of the sixteen spots, it would be their first NCAA appearance since then-coach Brian Voelker led the team to a 2006 first-round contest with Johns Hopkins.

“I think we have a good shot from what people tell me — people who have looked at it more closely than I have,” Murphy said. “If we’re invited, we’ll be excited and have a good week of practice…if not then we’ll feel good about the year and all the seniors have done.”

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