The men's lacrosse team released its schedule today for the Quakers' first season under new head coach Mike Murphy. And he doesn't look to be taking any time to ease into the new role, as this year's schedule looks to be tough as ever.

The Quakers open on Feb. 27, traveling to Durham, N.C., to take on Duke. The Blue Devils fell in the NCAA Semifinals last year, losing to eventual champion Syracuse, and look to again be in the mix for the national championship. They end the regular season with another ACC title contender in Maryland, traveling to College Park, MD on May 4. From what I've read, those two are the widespread favorites for the crown this year.

This season will also feature the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. As I wrote in an article last year, the top 4 teams in the Ivy League will play in a two-round tournament and the victor will receive the League's automatic bid to the NCAAs

All in all, the Quakers will take on 6 of the 16 teams that played in last year's NCAA Tournament (including 3 Ivies), and 7 that ranked in the top-20. Read below the jump for the full schedule and my comments.

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After spending two years as a Penn assistant and seven very successful years at Haverford College, Mike Murphy is returning to the Quakers as head coach of the men's lacrosse team, according to an athletic department announcement today.

Murphy is a former Penn assistant who could not have been any more successful in his first head coaching opportunity at Haverford. He leaves the Black Squirrels having been one win away from becoming their all-time winningest coach, but was by far the most successful coach in terms of winning percentage, wins per season, national rankings and postseason appearances.

Avid Buzz readers probably recall that I predicted this move after former coach Brian Voelker left for Drexel two weeks ago. OK, so I didn't exactly predict it, but I did mention Murphy as the most likely candidate. According to Insidelacrosse.com, other candidates for the job included Towson's Tony Seaman (sound familiar?) and current Penn assistant Chris Wojcik. Murphy has already said he would definitely like to keep Wojcik as an assistant (Voelker's other assistant, Conor Ford, is joining him at Drexel).

I like this move for Penn on every level. His history at Penn and tremendous success at Haverford made him an obvious choice in my mind, with the only hindrance being whether he would be willing to leave a program that he had built to such great heights. His transition back to Penn should be seamless, as his family lives nearby and he is already very well-established on the local recruiting scene. As I implied in the aforementioned post about Voelker's departure, I believe this move justifies the decision to let Voelker leave. Obviously only time will tell, but to me this seems like a step in the right direction for the Quakers.

On another positive note, Murphy seemed to contradict the impression I got from Voelker that Penn is not committed to its M. Lax program.

“I’m ecstatic,” he told Inside Lacrosse. “I think the Penn administration has proven that they support lacrosse and Coach [Brian] Voelker has put together a great deal of talent. For me, this is the ideal position.”

Whether he was being sincere or simply trying to say the right things and get off to a good start in his new job, that statement and his hiring should certainly bring a sigh of relief to frustrated Penn fans.

Stay tuned for more information and analysis on Murphy's hiring in this Thursday's issue of The Summer Pennsylvanian.