Philly Phour Phocus: Phatality!

In this final edition, we mourn the losses of all four of our cities teams: Drexel, Penn, St. Joe's, and Villanova.

Welcome to the season finale edition of the Philly Phour Phocus, which has always been properly spelled for the occasion. In case you've decided to join us to enjoy more losses by Philly teams (shame on you), we've been following all four Philly teams throughout the season, and updating their chances of repping the great city in this year's Final Four, which are obsolete. Did I mention that the Final Four is going to be in Philly this year? Well you probably know it by now, and if you haven't, I don't know how, but the Final Four is in Philly this year! Eri and I will be repping the region up in the press box, so look for us!
(Ed. Note: #WeMadeIt!!)

Last week, all Philly teams were getting set to play in their conference tournaments. Since nobody got into the big dance, who got the furthest? To the final Big Board we go! This week's Philly Phour Phocus Big Board is sponsored by Kensington. Kensington: You Don't Want To End Up Here!

Philly Phour Phocus Big Board For May 12, 2016

Team	Overall Record	Conference Record	Last Week's Results	This Week's Schedule
Drexel	6-9	2-3 (4th in CAA)	L @ Towson 10-6 (CAA Semifinal)	HIT THE BOOKS!
Penn	8-7	4-2 (3rd in Ivy)	L vs. Yale 7-6 (Ivy Semifinal)	Brag about being an Ivy
St. Joe's	12-4	5-1 (1st in NEC)	W vs. Robert Morris 14-7 (NEC Semifinal); L vs. Hobart 11-7 (NEC Championship)	Praise the Hawk
Villanova	9-5	3-2 (3rd in Big East)	L vs. Marquette 14-9 (Big East Semifinal)	Watch Kris Jenkins' shot a zillion times

Drexel:

Drexel's season ended in the CAA Semifinals on Thursday with a bad 10-6 loss to Towson. The Dragons gave up five goals in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beater to end the first after Nick Gorman's heave went off of Jimmy Joe Granito's pocket and off his glove into the net. That's the best moment to describe that game. Drexel did cut the lead to 7-5 midway through the 3rd, but Towson pulled away to get the win. Jacob O'Donnell had two goals and an assist, while Robert Frazee had a goal on six shots. Granito made nine saves, while Drexel's FOGOs went 6-of-19 from the X, including Nabil Akl going 1-of-9.

Here is Drexel's Proper Burial:

Penn:

The Quakers put up a fight against Yale at Brown University, but they fell to the Bulldogs late with 3:43 left in the game to end their season. The Quakers had all six of their goals scored by six different players, while Tyler Dunn had one of those goals along with an assist to be Penn's only multipoint player. Ivy League Co-Freshman of the Year Reed Junkin made 10 saves to keep the Quakers in the game. Ben Reeves had the game-winning goal for Yale and also added two more scores prior to his hat trick goal.

Here is Penn's Proper Burial:

St. Joe's:

The Hawks were the only team that won a game last week! Sadly, it was the NEC Semifinals, with a come-from-behind 14-7 win over Robert Morris. Kevin Forster (a La Salle College High School graduate!) led the way with five goals and an assist, while Hayes McGinley had a hat trick, and T.J. Jones made six saves. The Hawks were up 6-5 in the 3rd, but exploded with an eight goal final frame to move on to face Hobart in the NEC Championship.

And for the second straight season, the Hawks fell in the title game, this time to the Statesmen, who beat Bryant in the semis. Hobart got out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, dampening the Hawks' chance of making the NCAA Tournament. Chris Blewitt had two goals, while Forster was held to just an assist, and McGinley was held to without a point. Jones made 13 saves in the defeat. It's also the second time in three seasons that St. Joe's fell to Hobart. They fell to the Statesmen in the semis two seasons ago.

Here is St. Joe's Proper Burial:

Villanova:

The Wildcats were up to #6 at one point in the Inside Lacrosse media poll during the regular season, and then they went 3-4 to end their season, with the finale coming with a 14-9 loss to Marquette in the Big East Semifinal in Denver. Nova lost to Marquette 11-3 a few weeks back, and a win over the Golden Eagles, who eventually won the Big East Championship, would have possibly put the 'Cats in the NCAA Tournament. Joey Froccaro and Devin McNamara each had hat tricks, while Jake Froccaro had just a goal. Nova's defense couldn't stop Ryan McNamara and his four goals, along with Conor Gately (2,2), Kyle Whitlow (3,0), Tanner Thompson (2,1), and John Wagner (2,0) who helped Marquette take an early lead and go wire-to-wire.

Here is Villanova's Proper Burial:

And there you have it. The Philly Phour Phocus is complete. All four teams have FAILED.

Now next year, the pressure will be on Boston University, UMass Lowell, Harvard and UMass. But the Mass Four Focus is a horrible title and none of these teams will make the Final Four (Marisa might disagree with BU, but BU is PU, GET IT!). Unfortunately for this year's tournament, the Philly Phour lax teams struck out.

Do we have to dance? We do? Fine, I guess we'll dance.