The men's lacrosse team improved to 5-3 on the season and 2-1 in the Ivy League with a 10-8 victory over the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday. Penn is now 1-10 on the season with a 0-6 record in the Ivies.
The Bears built an early lead on the strength of three goals by co-captain Britton Derkac '05 and one by Dave Madeira '07 on a man-up situation in the first seven minutes of the game. Brown's offense moved the ball confidently for the entire period, only allowing Penn two offensive possessions.
In the second quarter, however, the tables were turned after Penn's defense regrouped and stifled Brown's ball movement by switching to a zone defense. Brown managed only three shots in the quarter and came away with no goals.
The Bears' defense struggled slightly in the second quarter as well, with Penn possessing the ball for the majority of the period, wearing down Brown's defenders. "They make you play defense for a long time and wait for the right shot," said Head Coach Scott Nelson.
Penn found that right shot three times in the period, with goals by junior Alan Eberstein, senior Greg Voigt and junior James Riordan.
The Quakers' ability to hold the ball frustrated the Brown defense into drawing two fouls in the second quarter. The Bears' man-down defense, however, held strong, killing both penalties. The Quakers did come close though, according to Nelson, in one man-down situation when "we made a mistake and missed a slide and Penn simply missed a shot, but we put in a correction."
The man-down defense in the second quarter was standard for the rest of the game, with the unit killing all four of Brown's penalties.
"Our defense kept us in the game," Woodson said. "Britton had a nice breakout, scoring three goals early, and the offense played well, but I have to give the credit to the defense. They tightened up when they had to and came up with stops."
In the third quarter, Brown began to move the ball with the same confidence as the first quarter. Co-captain Chris Mucciolo '05 scored 1:47 into the quarter and again at 8:27. The defense continued to play well, allowing only one goal on four Penn shots.
The fourth quarter was the only point during which Penn threatened to rally for the win. The rally began when Penn junior Luke Dixson tallied a fluke goal that squirted by goalie Nick Gentilesco '06 three minutes into the quarter. Derkac, however, answered back with his fourth goal one minute later.
The momentum continued to build for Penn after Rob Cotter '06 was called for a slash, giving Penn another man-up opportunity, but once again the Brown defense prevented the Quakers from converting it. Co-captain Chazz Woodson '05 then scored an unassisted goal eight minutes into the fourth quarter, but Penn answered back a minute later to cut the lead to 8-6.
After Brown killed its final penalty, Alex Buckley '07 scored on a breakaway to put the Bears up by three. Penn sophomore Alex Salihi then scored with one minute left in the game, and Eberstein added his second goal to bring Penn within one with 19 seconds left.
Penn's rally ended when Kirk Teatom '05 drew a holding penalty on the faceoff, giving Bruno a free possession with 11 seconds left. Brown called a timeout with five seconds to go, and Woodson scored at the buzzer to make the final 10-8.
"Penn is probably the best 1-10 team in history," Nelson said. The close final score is indicative of Penn's tenacious play, which, though it has only secured them one victory, has kept many of their losses to a margin of a single goal.
In such a close match, hustle gave Brown the edge. The Bears took 25 ground balls to Penn's 23, and capitalized on their single man-up opportunity. Teatom's 16 faceoff possessions dominated Penn's six, and Gentilesco contributed 10 saves while Penn keeper Dennis Cole managed only five.
The Bears will try to continue their success this Saturday at Dartmouth. The Big Green is currently 5-3 overall with a 1-1 Ivy League record.
