The men's lacrosse team has been out-shot in almost every game this season. But on Saturday at Penn, the No. 16 Bears took this trend to an extreme, as they were out-shot, 57-22. Bruno proved that quality is better than quantity, though, as it took down the Quakers, 8-5, improving to 8-2 on the season and tying for second in the Ivy League with a 3-0 record. Penn dropped to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the Ivy League.
After a 25-minute lightning delay, the Quakers looked as if they would be able to tame the Bears early on when they jumped out to a 2-1 lead in a dominating first quarter. Penn fired off 14 shots in the opening 15 minutes, but goalie Jordan Burke '09 ensured that only two found the back of the net. The nation's leader in save percentage and goals against average made four of his 19 saves in the first quarter, keeping the team in the game.
"Jordan made some great saves on some closer shots," said Head Coach Lars Tiffany '90. "We weren't playing with poise and composure yet. I told the men we were fortunate to be down 2-1 after the first quarter."
As the team has done in a number of recent games, it vastly improved its play in the second and third quarters.
"We have to come out a little bit harder in the first quarter. But it says a lot about our team character. We never give up. We never quit," Burke said.
After Penn got a goal with 6:48 to play in the first half, the Brown defense did not allow another goal for an entire quarter.
"We did the same thing we have been doing all year," Burke said. "Now we really know when to slide and when not to slide. We are communicating really well."
In that same time span, the Brown attackmen shone, tallying four goals. Kyle Hollingsworth '09, Jack Walsh '09, Thomas Muldoon '10 and Andrew Feinberg '11 all had at least a goal or an assist during the stretch. Walsh's second goal just 1:03 into the second half gave Brown a 4-3 lead, and Penn was never able to catch up again.
"The attack have been playing great lately," said tri-captain Jeff Hall '08. "They are fearless, they have been coming around the cage strong."
Hall also added that confidence was crucial in the comeback.
"Coach told us in the huddle (after the first quarter) that Penn gets up on teams and lets their leads get away," he said. "Coach told us we were still in the game. It helped our motivation and our confidence."
Tiffany also pointed to the fact that the team struggled in some third quarters earlier in the season and has since fixed the problem, which has led to the strong play in the middle of games. He said the team made an effort to work on coming out of halftime better and the team even "practiced halftime" during regular practices, by waiting around for a few minutes in between drills.
Though Penn cut the lead to 5-4 by the end of the third quarter, the Bears put the game away in the fourth when Hollingsworth and Walsh extended the lead to 7-4 with 4:45 to play in the game.
Walsh said that an increased use of wing dodges in the second half contributed to an improved offensive effort after halftime.
Tiffany called the offense "opportunistic" and "efficient," scoring eight goals on just 22 shots. Penn controlled the ball for approximately 75 percent of the game according to Tiffany, which was aided by Brown's occasional inability to clear after a Burke save.
"Ideally we would have liked to have more shots. Our target is around 35-40 shots. They had long possessions. All our shots were good though," Walsh said.
Penn tried desperately to make a comeback, unloading 18 shots on Burke in the fourth quarter, but it managed just one goal, which came too late to give the Quakers a chance.
Burke pointed to one five-minute stretch in the fourth when Penn controlled the ball without a whistle and the defense began to tire but didn't give in. He said that he thought the Penn offense was frustrated with having so much possession time but getting nothing out of it.
The 8-5 victory keeps Brown on pace with Cornell, who is 4-0 in the Ivy League, and Princeton, who is 3-0.
The Bears will try to extend their seven-game winning streak to eight on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Harvard. The team is excited to play at home again, according to Walsh. They haven't been home since their March 25 game against Vermont.
Though the team's fans have traveled well, making strong showings at Yale and Penn, "teams always play better at home," Walsh said.
The game will also be the first one for the team on Stevenson Field, which means the first game on natural grass. Very few teams still play on grass anymore and Tiffany said it changes the game because "your legs are so heavy."
The Bears hope the grass won't slow them down too much and they will be able to continue on the road to an Ivy League championship, which Burke said has been the team's goal since the beginning of the season.
