Courtesy of David Schamis

On Saturday, the Yale men’s lacrosse team (3–5, 2–2 Ivy) secured their second conference win over Penn (4–7, 1–3 Ivy), improving their record after two losses and advancing to No. 4 in the Ivy League.

After triumphing over the Brown Bears 15-12 last weekend, the Elis had renewed confidence and sought to build on the victory as they traveled to Philadelphia. For the Penn Quakers, Saturday’s match-up marked their fourth straight loss after falling to Saint Joseph’s, Dartmouth and Cornell.

Yale started the game strong, scoring the first three goals. William Sheehan ’26 assisted Chris Lyons ’25, and Brad Sharp ’26 and Leo Johnson ’25 each scored unassisted. Yale’s Jared Paquette ’25 started in goal for the first time this season, blocking Penn’s shots until the quarter was almost over. Lyons responded to Penn’s first goal by charging the net to score unassisted to end the first period with Yale up 4-1. 

In the second period, Captain Max Krevsky ’25 assisted attackman David Anderson ’27 to score the Elis’ fifth goal of the game. However, the Quakers then engaged in a forceful campaign to narrow the gap, with three back-to-back goals.

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs persevered, refusing to let their lead slip away. At 4:55, Krevsky led the team in what would become four consecutive unassisted goals. In the last minute of the period, Johnny Keib ’25, Hunter Bowen ’27 and Peter Moynihan ’27 widened Yale’s lead to 9-4. 

Bowen’s goal marked the first of his career, and it “definitely had our momentum up for the rest of the game after the play,” Francis Keneally ’28 wrote to the News.

After halftime, Penn sought to narrow the deficit, claiming the first goal of the third period for the Quakers. Yale burst Penn’s hopes of making a comeback with two consecutive goals — Keib’s assist to Sharp and Johnson’s pass to Moynihan brought the score to 11-5. The Quakers answered with two goals of their own to round out the period, with Penn down by four goals.

The Elis kept up the momentum in the final period with their eyes on a victory. Yale scored the first goal at 14:14 when Lyons assisted midfielder Tristan Ghosh ’27. Ghosh’s goal marked his first of the season. 

Penn’s Chris Patterson then charged at Yale goalkeeper Paquette to score the Quakers’ eighth goal of the game. Krevsky answered with another unassisted goal, his second of the game, to take Yale’s lead to 13-8 at 9:26. 

The remainder of the period saw little action as both teams held up strong defenses until Penn made it through the Yale defenders to score with 2:32 remaining. Midfielder Cole Cashion ’27 scored Yale’s final goal of the game, but with only two minutes left, Penn’s back-to-back goals were not enough to reverse Yale’s lead. The Bulldogs triumphed 14-11.

“It was a win that we needed to make the Ivy League tournament, and we now need to beat Dartmouth next week to be in,” Keneally wrote to the News. “So now we’re just looking ahead towards that and will be preparing for it all week.”

The Elis will return to Reese Stadium to host the Big Green on Saturday, April 12 at 1 p.m. Before the faceoff, the team will honor the 19 seniors for their commitment and dedication to the program.