Penn’s rally falls short against Rutgers in NCAA men’s lacrosse quarterfinals

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The men’s lacrosse team at Penn had not advanced to the NCAA semifinals since 1988 despite eight quarterfinal appearances. In the Quakers’ ninth quarterfinal game in program history, they fell once again, this time to Rutgers.

Although No. 3 Penn (11-5) had a higher seeding than No. 6 Rutgers (15-3) heading into the matchup, the teams were evenly matched.

“I think Maryland is probably the best team right now,” Penn coach Mike Murphy said in April. “And then after that, I think just a bunch of teams that are pretty good, I think we’re in that group.”

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Even though the schools are just 60 miles apart, the teams had not faced each other since 1986, when the Scarlet Knights silenced the Quakers, 16-5.

The scoreboard at Hofstra University’s James Shuart Stadium remained quiet for over 10 minutes on Saturday until Rutgers managed to get one past goalie Patrick Burkinshaw. He had already saved four shots before the goal. By the end of the half, Burkinshaw had a .733 save percentage.

After 15 minutes, Rutgers had a 2-0 advantage. The last time the Quakers were shut out in a quarter was against Brown in the second quarter of the Ivy League tournament semifinals on May 6. Penn went on to win that game, 14-9.

The Quakers finally found the back of the net at the beginning of the second quarter when Gabe Furey scored on a man-up opportunity. Penn tied the game at 2, at 3, and 4-4 by the time the whistle blew for halftime.

Rutgers attacker Mitch Bartolo had two goals and three points. A familiar face to the Quakers, Bartolo is a graduate transfer from Penn ahead of the 2022 season and was one of Penn’s four captains last season.

A 4-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters propelled the Quakers to their first lead of the game, 8-6. Junior Robert Schain and freshman Chris Canet each rattled the cage for the first time this season. Both teams had to rely on depth as the 90-degree weather on Long Island quickly tired the players.

Rutgers responded with a 5-0 rally of its own to reclaim the lead and put the game out of reach, but Penn, a team known for its late-game heroics, kept pushing.

“Clearly it was a game of runs,” Murphy said. “We went down, tied it, went down, tied it. … Part of the challenge for us is not doing a good enough job taking away their transition.”

Dylan Gergar netted his fourth goal of the game to cut the Quakers’ deficit to 11-9 with 54 seconds left. The comeback bid fell short, however.

Rutgers will face the winner of Sunday’s Cornell-Delaware game on May 28 in East Hartford, Conn., in the national semifinals.

“This game doesn’t define us,” Burkinshaw said. “We had a great season. We didn’t play our best game today.”