Kip Dooley '12 led the Big Green with one goal and an assist. In total, six different players scored for Dartmouth in the team's losing effort.
After the two teams tallied three goals each in the first quarter, Penn (2-6, 1-3 Ivy) pulled away, outscoring Dartmouth 2-1 in each of the remaining quarters.
The Quakers came out strong in the first quarter, with senior Drew Collins netting a goal three minutes into the game. Dartmouth then tied it up with a goal from Casey Hingtgen '10. Penn led twice more in the quarter, but both times Dartmouth restored balance with goals from Dooley and Josh Etzion '11.
"Penn is definitely a first half team," Andrew Pollack '10 said. "Our defense played well, and we were able to crush a lot of penalties."
The score remained tied until about 10 minutes into the second quarter when Penn grabbed its fourth lead of the game with a goal from senior Garvey Heiderman. The Big Green, however, equalized yet again less than thirty seconds later with a goal from Ari Sussman '10.
The Quakers took what would be the decisive lead of the game with four minutes left in the quarter, on a man-advantage goal from freshman John Conneely.
"It's definitely hard to lose the momentum in a game, but lacrosse is fast, so the second goal didn't leave us out of touch," Pollack said. "The attitude at halftime was just to play hard."
The Quakers extended their lead four minutes into the third quarter with a goal from senior Craig Andrzejewski. Dartmouth played well for the rest of the quarter, and appeared to have found a way back into the game with a goal from co-captain Tim Daniels '08. A goal 11 seconds from the end of the quarter, however, restored the two-goal advantage for the Quakers.
Both teams tightened up on defense for most of the fourth quarter, and neither side was able to create any offensive opportunities. Andrzejewski's 17th goal of the season, which came with three minutes remaining, sealed the win for Penn. The senior is fifth in the league in scoring.
After another tally 50 seconds from the end of the game gave the Quakers a flattering four-goal advantage, the Big Green grabbed a consolation goal with 21 seconds left from co-captain Brian Koch '09.
"The score was absolutely not indicative of how close the game was," Pollack said. "We played them close throughout, but in the end, someone has to win and someone has to lose."
Despite being outshot 42-29, the Big Green was not without its opportunities, and for long stretches of the game the team was able to shut down the Quaker offense. It was the fourth season in a row that Dartmouth men's lacrosse has fallen to Penn.
"I don't usually ever blame the refs, but we had some tough calls," Pollack said. "We were getting a lot of questionable penalties."
With the loss, the Big Green will have to win out its remaining conference games to have any hope of winning the Ivy League. The remaining Ivy schedule includes visits from No. 13 Harvard, as well as league-leading No. 3 Cornell. Dartmouth will also make a non-conference trip to Charlottesville, Va., to play against former teammate Chad Gaudet '08, who joined the undefeated No. 1 University of Virginia squad this season.
"We always play UVA well," Pollack said. "Going down there and seeing Chad will be great, and we'll definitely give them our best. Hopefully we'll funnel the disappointment from Penn and get some good results the rest of the way."
Dartmouth will look to get back on track this week as they host Providence College (5-4, 4-0 Metro Atlantic) and No. 3 Cornell (7-1, 3-0 Ivy). The Big Green lost 16-11 to the Big Red last season.
Dartmouth will play Providence on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Cornell on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at Scully-Fahey field in Hanover.
