Penn 2/24
Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2024 10:38 am
Delaware hasn’t really been tested this year with easy victories over Lafayette and St. John’s. But the season will start in earnest this Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field when they Hens face a talented Penn Quakers squad for the first time since 2000 when the Hens topped the Quakers 12-6 in Newark. While the Quakers have dominated this series which goes back to 1951, the Hens have won three of the last four meetings. The last eight meetings, going back to 1986, have been split with both teams going 4-4.
So what can we expect
The Hens scrimmaged Penn last February in a very physical match up in Philly that the Hens ended up ahead 8-5 when the starters of both teams were removed in the second half. Since that time the Hens have had to rebuild their defense while the Quakers brought back all of their very talented defensive starters. The only major loss for Penn this year was losing All-American midfielder Sam Handley (30g 25a), who was the proverbial straw that stirred the drink on offense.
As mentioned, this is a very talented returning defense that gave up just 10 goals a game last year. These guys are big athletic poles that are super aggressive, including Ethan Till (6’2” 195), Peter Blake (6’ 1’ 200lb), Brendan Levelle (6’ 210lbs) and freshman LSM Matthew Till (6’5” 210) out of the Bullis School. They also added Anthony McMullan (6’ 2” 210lb) who is an impact freshman SSDM out of The Hill School. He stood out in the Georgetown game with three caused turnovers. Backing up this solid unit is senior goalie Emmet Carroll who is coming off a 17 save performance against Albany. Carroll is a tall, rangy tender who is very strong on high shots. He has given up just 9.5 goals a game with a .596 save percentage. That is very good.
The Quakers are 1-1 after an opening 12-9 loss to Georgetown and an 11-7 win over Albany on Wednesday. This Saturday’s game against the Hens will be the third straight home game for Penn.
On offense the Quakers are led by senior attackman Ben Smith who had 27 goals and 7 assists last year. He is joined at attack by junior Tynan Walsh who has 5 goals and 2 assists this year and junior Luke DiNola (2G 2A) out of Summit NJ.
Coach Murphy runs two midfield units equally. He starts James Shipley (10g 18a last year), freshman Leo Hoffman (2G 2A) and off-ball shooter Gabe Furey, who had 10 goals last year on 49 shots (.204). Hoffman was a highly-recruited attackman out of The Brunswick school and is just getting used to the pace and competition at this level, but has a ton of talent.
The Quakers were expecting to be competitive at FOGO this year, but have not been very successful to date. Returning starter Chris Arceri who was just a touch under 50% last year apparently got hurt in the opener. As a team Penn is only winning 35% of faceoffs with Ethan Constanzo (.348) taking the majority of draws.
How the Hens can pull off this win
The Hens have to be competitive at the faceoff x. OJ Morris has been terrific so far this year covering for injured Logan Premtaj. He has a .694 winning percentage against middling competition. As mentioned earlier, Penn has apparently lost its top FOGO to injury, so I think they will go primarily with Costanzo who is at .394 so far this year. As a team they are only winning 35% so I would hope that the Hens can at least split faceoffs evenly on Saturday. It would be a bonus if they could get significantly above 50%.
The Hens offense will need to start at the midfield. I think that starting attack of PJ Ward, Mike Robinson and John McCurry will be more successful off ball rather than attempting to out-bully the Quakers bully defense. I would expect that the Hens will need Brendan Powers, Cam Acchione, Nick Jessen and Jason Kolar to win the one-on-one battles in order to free up Robinson and McCurry for off-ball opportunities. Expect to see both Powers and Jessen inverting when the matchups favor them. Penn has also been susceptible to penalties this year as a result of their aggressive defense. They have given up 3 man-down goals in 8 attempts. The Hens must make them pay for these penalties, which will definitely happen. Goals won’t come easily against this stout defense, but I believe the Hens can get to 13, which could be enough to win.
Hens will need goalie Kevin Ellington (.657 save percentage) to continue his hot start. He will have a lot of help from the Hens physical defense that has yielded just six goals a game (albeit against less-than-stellar competition). Should be a fun game. I am going to watch from home. Too cold at Franklin Field this time of year.
So what can we expect
The Hens scrimmaged Penn last February in a very physical match up in Philly that the Hens ended up ahead 8-5 when the starters of both teams were removed in the second half. Since that time the Hens have had to rebuild their defense while the Quakers brought back all of their very talented defensive starters. The only major loss for Penn this year was losing All-American midfielder Sam Handley (30g 25a), who was the proverbial straw that stirred the drink on offense.
As mentioned, this is a very talented returning defense that gave up just 10 goals a game last year. These guys are big athletic poles that are super aggressive, including Ethan Till (6’2” 195), Peter Blake (6’ 1’ 200lb), Brendan Levelle (6’ 210lbs) and freshman LSM Matthew Till (6’5” 210) out of the Bullis School. They also added Anthony McMullan (6’ 2” 210lb) who is an impact freshman SSDM out of The Hill School. He stood out in the Georgetown game with three caused turnovers. Backing up this solid unit is senior goalie Emmet Carroll who is coming off a 17 save performance against Albany. Carroll is a tall, rangy tender who is very strong on high shots. He has given up just 9.5 goals a game with a .596 save percentage. That is very good.
The Quakers are 1-1 after an opening 12-9 loss to Georgetown and an 11-7 win over Albany on Wednesday. This Saturday’s game against the Hens will be the third straight home game for Penn.
On offense the Quakers are led by senior attackman Ben Smith who had 27 goals and 7 assists last year. He is joined at attack by junior Tynan Walsh who has 5 goals and 2 assists this year and junior Luke DiNola (2G 2A) out of Summit NJ.
Coach Murphy runs two midfield units equally. He starts James Shipley (10g 18a last year), freshman Leo Hoffman (2G 2A) and off-ball shooter Gabe Furey, who had 10 goals last year on 49 shots (.204). Hoffman was a highly-recruited attackman out of The Brunswick school and is just getting used to the pace and competition at this level, but has a ton of talent.
The Quakers were expecting to be competitive at FOGO this year, but have not been very successful to date. Returning starter Chris Arceri who was just a touch under 50% last year apparently got hurt in the opener. As a team Penn is only winning 35% of faceoffs with Ethan Constanzo (.348) taking the majority of draws.
How the Hens can pull off this win
The Hens have to be competitive at the faceoff x. OJ Morris has been terrific so far this year covering for injured Logan Premtaj. He has a .694 winning percentage against middling competition. As mentioned earlier, Penn has apparently lost its top FOGO to injury, so I think they will go primarily with Costanzo who is at .394 so far this year. As a team they are only winning 35% so I would hope that the Hens can at least split faceoffs evenly on Saturday. It would be a bonus if they could get significantly above 50%.
The Hens offense will need to start at the midfield. I think that starting attack of PJ Ward, Mike Robinson and John McCurry will be more successful off ball rather than attempting to out-bully the Quakers bully defense. I would expect that the Hens will need Brendan Powers, Cam Acchione, Nick Jessen and Jason Kolar to win the one-on-one battles in order to free up Robinson and McCurry for off-ball opportunities. Expect to see both Powers and Jessen inverting when the matchups favor them. Penn has also been susceptible to penalties this year as a result of their aggressive defense. They have given up 3 man-down goals in 8 attempts. The Hens must make them pay for these penalties, which will definitely happen. Goals won’t come easily against this stout defense, but I believe the Hens can get to 13, which could be enough to win.
Hens will need goalie Kevin Ellington (.657 save percentage) to continue his hot start. He will have a lot of help from the Hens physical defense that has yielded just six goals a game (albeit against less-than-stellar competition). Should be a fun game. I am going to watch from home. Too cold at Franklin Field this time of year.