Corey Winkoff-Penn Quakers leading scorer- Joins College Crosse for some insight on the 2011 Ivy League

With four teams in Inside Lacrosse’s top 20 and the addition of an annual league tournament, the Ivy League has gone through a revivial in the past few years. While its been predominantly headlined by teams like Cornell and Princeton, Brown and Yale have come into the mix, as well as top tier talent at Harvard.

University of Pennsylvania’s Corey Winkoff sees no reason why the Quakers shouldnt be considered among the Ivy’s best in 2011, and with a schedule that pits them against eight of the top 20 teams in the country and four of the top five, coach Mike Murphy’s squad will best tested early and often throughout the ’11 season. After finishing 2010 with a 5-8 record and going 1-5 in Ivy League play, Murphy is expecting alot out of his team and his senior class who opens the season against #5 Duke.

Winkoff, a senior attackman and last season’s leading scorer for the Quakers, finished 2010 with 43 points (18g, 25a). An honorable mention All-Ivy league player who started all 13 games on attack for Coach Murphy, the 5’-10", 170 pound Winkoff was eighth nationally in assits per game (1.92) and rose to the occasion in conference play as he put up 22 points against Ivy League opponents. Alongside Winkoff, the Quakers return fellow top scorers in midfieler John Conneely (17, 15) and attackman Al Kohart (21, 5).

Winkoff answered a few questions as he prepares for the upcoming 2011 season.

College Crosse: First off, can you talk about the revival of the Ivy League?

Corey Winkoff: There certainly is a revival of the Ivy league. With the new Ivy League Championship, the league is becoming more intriguing for fans and spectators alike. The talent in the Ivy League is better than its ever been and is only getting better. There are no longer any weak teams in the league and every team has an even chance to become the next Ivy champ.

CC: We know the Penn offense can score, you guys put up just over 10 goals a game in 2010 (11 goals against Duke, 10 against Princeton). What can we expect out of you and the entire 2011 Penn offense? Anything that will surprise us?

CW: We return all but one of our starters on offense. With that said, I would hope that we will be able to have just as successful, or even more successful season. Our offensive coach left to take the Harvard job this past summer, but our new coach (Cory Coffman, who was an assistant at Mt. St. Mary’s) has done a great job filling his shoes. Coach Coffman is a young guy that has great knowledge of the game. He relates to all of the offensive guys really well and we all have the utmost respect for him.