Men's Lacrosse Heads to Yale For Big Ivy Tilt

PHILADELPHIA - The Penn men's lacrosse team is still looking for its first Ivy League win, and on Saturday the Quakers hit the road for a big conference game with another team winless after two conference contests in Yale.

GAME 7
PENN (1-5, 0-2) at YALE (2-4, 0-2)
Saturday, March 31, 2012 * 1 p.m.
New Haven, Conn. (Reese Stadium)

The Series with Yale
The Bulldogs lead the series, 35-26, although Penn won last year's meeting, 10-9, in triple overtime. Yale had won the previous two matchups, 16-14 in 2010 and 14-13 in overtime in 2009. In fact, three of the last five meetings have gone to overtime, and all of those five have had a goal differential of one or two.

About Yale
After winning its first two games this season, the Bulldogs have dropped four straight overall.  Like Penn, Yale has lost to the two preseason favorites so far in Ivy play -- the Bulldogs fell to Cornell two weeks ago, 8-7, and then lost an epic, five-overtime game with Princeton, 10-9, last Saturday. Brandon Mangan leads Yale with 19 points (13g, 6a), while Matt Gibson has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points and Conrad Oberbeck has 14 goals and 17 points. Gibson was a first-team All-Ivy pick on attack last year, while midfielder Greg Mahony (9g, 4a) was a second-team All-Ivy selection. In goal, Jack Meyer and Eric Natale have basically split time; each has three starts. Meyer has an 8.55 goals-against average and a .508 save percentage; Natale has an 8.94 GAA and a .342 save percentage.

Around the Ivy League
At the same time that Penn and Yale face off on Saturday, Cornell (2-0) and Dartmouth (0-1) will be squaring off in Hanover, N.H. Right around the time those four teams are finishing up, Princeton (2-0) and Brown (0-1) will start up in Providence. Harvard (2-0) has the bye this weekend; the Crimson host Michigan at 1 p.m. in Cambridge, Mass.

Penn in the Mile High Classic
The Penn men's lacrosse team will participate in the Whitman's Sampler Mile High Classic presented by Inside Lacrosse on Friday, April 27 in Denver, Colo. The Quakers are slated to meet defending NCAA champion Virginia in the first half of a doubleheader at Sports Authority Field (home of the NFL's Denver Broncos); 2011 NCAA semifinalists Duke and Denver will play in the other game.

About Penn
*Saturday's game will be the third of four Ivy League games in a row that the Quakers will play; the run ends next Saturday, when Brown comes to town.

*Penn scored 11 goals in last weekend's game with Cornell, its high for the season, and also set a season high with 25 ground balls.

*Senior Dan Savage had a hat trick last weekend against the Big Red, his third this season and seventh career. He now leads Penn in goals (10) and points (15).

*Senior midfielder Anthony Adler matched Savage with three goals -- his first collegiate hat trick -- and an assist.

*Senior John Conneely and junior Tim Schwalje are tied for second on the team with 13 points apiece. They are the only Penn players to have a point in every game this season.

*Schwalje had an assist last Saturday, snapping a streak of three-straight three-point games for the attackman.

*After being held without a point for two straight games, sophomore Drew Belinsky had a goal and an assist last weekend vs. Cornell.

*Junior Ryan Parietti was held goalless last Saturday, snapping a three-game streak where he scored two goals each time. He has nine points in 2012 (7g, 2a).

*Junior Rob Fitzpatrick, who tied for fourth in scoring a year ago, scored a goal against Cornell and now has three points this season (2g, 1a).

*Sophomore long-stick middie Alex Blonsky scored his first collegiate goal last weekend vs. Cornell.

*Junior Anthony Santomo leads Penn with seven caused turnovers, while senior Will Koshansky and sophomores Maxx Meyer and Zack Losco have six each.

*Freshman Joe McCallion and sophomore Danny Feeney have basically split time on faceoffs this season; McCallion has a .473 win percentage, while Feeney is at .382. They combined to win 20 of 31 last Saturday vs. Cornell (McCallion 11/18, Feeney 9/13).

*Sophomore goalie Brian Feeney -- Danny's twin brother -- has a .422 save percentage and a 10.50 goals-against average so far this season.

*Penn finished the 2011 regular season at 8-6, its best overall record since 2006 (10-4), and advanced to the NCAAs for the first time since that 2006 season.

*In Ivy League play, Penn's 4-2 record last year was its best since, you guessed it, 2006. However, the Quakers took second in the Ivy standings, behind Cornell. The last time Penn finished second in the Ivies? Try 1989.