Penn downs Yale to win second straight Ivy League men’s lacrosse tournament championship

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Penn Quakers are Ivy League champions. For the third time since Mike Murphy became head coach in 2010, Penn won the Ivy League tournament championship, beating Yale, 16-9, on Sunday.

After winning the regular-season title in 2019 and defeating Yale in the Ivy League tournament, it was the Bulldogs who go the last laugh as they knocked the Quakers out of the 2019 NCAA tournament in the second round. With the pandemic canceling almost two full seasons of Ivy League lacrosse, this was Penn’s first chance to exact revenge.

The team’s relentless effort — even with two games in three days — showed the gritty nature of this Penn team. The tournament title marks only the second time in Ivy history that the fourth seed won the trophy. This is also the first time since the tournament began in 2010 that all three games were upsets based on seeding entering the weekend.

“I think as a team we’re the most resilient in the country,” senior goalie Patrick Burkinshaw said.

For most of the first half, the game remained close, with three ties and two lead changes. With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, the Quakers put their foot on the gas and didn’t let up. Penn (10-4) kept the Bulldogs (11-4) scoreless for the next 15 minutes of game time, scoring seven unanswered goals. The run was propelled by senior attacker Dylan Gergar, who scored three times in the third quarter and four goals on the day.

Wind speeds fluctuating between 20-30 mph throughout the game made for low-accuracy shots and passes.

“Early on, I think we had to adjust to it,” Murphy said. “We called time out and kind of settled down and thereafter the guys just took care of the ball.”

The wind didn’t seem to disturb Burkinshaw in the Penn goal, though, as the senior saved 16 shots. Combined with a stellar showing against host Brown on Friday, Burkinshaw set a new Ivy League record with 36 saves in a tournament weekend. His brick-wall exploits earned him the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.

Burkinshaw didn’t act alone. Despite Yale outshooting the Quakers, 46-42, the Bulldogs couldn’t find a way to convert because of Penn’s constant pressure. The Quaker defense prevented Yale from getting good looks, even forcing them into three shot-clock violations.

“All credit to my defenders in front of me. They’ve helped me so much throughout the year,” Burkinshaw said.

All season, lacrosse analysts called the Ivy League the deepest conference in the NCAA. Those claims were proved true on selection Sunday. Of the seven Ivy League schools to field men’s lacrosse teams, six made the NCAA tournament and five will host first-round games as higher seeds.

No. 3 seed Penn will host Richmond (11-4) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Penn’s commencement is being held at the same time at Franklin Field, so the game will take place at Penn Park.

The winners of the Southern Conference tournament, the Spiders will look to pull another upset. They took the lacrosse world by storm earlier this season with a stunning victory over then No. 2 Virginia. They also have the eighth-best scoring defense in the country, allowing just 10.0 goals per game this season.

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Before preparing for Richmond, however, the Penn athletes need to finish their final exams and add another trophy to their case.

“This was fun three years ago and it is just as much fun now,” said Murphy following Sunday’s tournament title.