The Penn men’s lacrosse team earned its seniors a free trip during graduation weekend.
After receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the Quakers will head to South Bend, Ind., Saturday to square off with last year’s national runner-up and current fourth-seed Notre Dame (10-2).
Following a loss to Harvard in the first round of the Ivy League tournament last Friday, the Red and Blue (8-6, 4-2 Ivy) found themselves sitting on the NCAA tourney bubble.
But players and coaches gathered Sunday night at Baby Blues Barbeque to watch the selection announcement, and had their uncertainty erased when Penn popped up as one of the 16 teams in the tournament field.
The Quakers join No. 2 Cornell as representatives from the Ancient Eight.
While conference counterparts Harvard and Yale sport a better winning percentage than the Red and Blue, Penn played one of the toughest schedules in the nation, ranked sixth nationally by LaxPower.
The challenging regular season has clearly paid dividends, and a few big-name victories likely sealed the deal for the Quakers, who last made the NCAAs in 2006.
“8-6 isn’t great, but that’s not the point,” Penn coach Mike Murphy said. “Even if it’s a team at or just above .500, it has those strengths, those aspects; the schedule, the RPI and a win or two that make a difference.”
Those difference-making wins may have both come in the first week of the season, when the Quakers downed defending national champion Duke at Franklin Field, then edged out Bucknell just three days later—both the Blue Devils and the Bison were selected for the tournament.
All but one of Penn’s six losses came against top-20 opponents, and its 2011 schedule included six teams currently in the NCAA tournament.
The Red and Blue also notched wins over then-No. 11 Princeton and then-No. 15 Yale during an Ivy regular season that was the team’s focus from the outset.
“We didn’t really talk about [the NCAA tournament] specifically,” Murphy said. “But it happens to arise from the pursuit of an Ivy League championship.”
The Quakers face a Fighting Irish team which — like them — has dropped two games in a row.
Saturday’s match marks the fifth time the two programs have faced off and the first since 2003. The all-time series record is 2-2.
Notre Dame — ranked No. 1 for several weeks this year before falling to No. 5 — ran off ten consecutive victories to start its slate, then fell to Syracuse and North Carolina to end the regular season.
Murphy said the key to winning will be containing Notre Dame’s two All-American midfielders, Zach Brenneman and David Earl.
On the offensive end, however, the Quakers will have to contend with Notre Dame sophomore goalie John Kemp, who sits at second in the nation with a 6.42 goals-against average.
Though Penn is just 2-6 away from ‘The Frank’ this year, a win in South Bend couldn’t come at a better time.
Murphy, in just his second year at the helm, has guided the Quakers back to prominence, finishing second in the league and giving the Quakers a chance for their first NCAA victory since 1988.
“We have another week together, guys are finishing up exams now…and at that point all they’re doing is lacrosse,” he said. “They become more like professional athletes, and that’s what we’ve talked about, that’s an exciting proposition for them.”
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