W. Soccer has positive perspective

Junior Heike Krippendorff always has a way of putting things in perspective, even if the opponent is the defending Ivy League champion. The Penn women's soccer team challenges Dartmouth tomorrow in Hanover. The Big Green barely fell 1-0 in overtime to top 10 Connecticut. The Quakers, in only the fourth year of varsity women's soccer at Penn, are 0-4 and coming off a 4-1 spanking at the hands of Bucknell. "We're going to play our best," Krippendorff said, "and hopefully, it will rain and it will be a nice dirty game." A ceremonial rain dance will not take place before tomorrow's game, but the Quakers may need to do some praying to the soccer gods to pull this one out. Penn has shown signs of improvement and solid play at times. Co-captain Krippendorff has kept up her steady play in the midfield, leading both on and off the field. Sophomore mighty-mite forward Yuka Morita has added spunk and spark, with two goals, to a relatively stagnant offense. Morita will make the trip although she has been bothered with a nagging injury suffered in Tuesday's game. Freshman midfielder Darah Ross has also contributed two goals. A superb performance will be needed from freshman goalkeeper Perry Cohen. It is never easy to make the transition from high school to college athletics. It is that much harder when a freshman is asked to start, as Cohen has already discovered. Cohen is not only starting, but playing a position requiring leadership and intense concentration. "Perry had being moving along pretty well, and not to point fingers, but she had a subpar performance against Bucknell," Baker said. "We need her to make five or six big-time saves for us to stay in a game. So, we've challenged Perry." To their credit, the Quakers could have easily died after their 4-1 loss to Bucknell, especially since last year Penn tied the Bison 1-1 in Lewisburg. But the Quakers gave it their all in Wednesday's practice. "I think our spirits could have potentially been down, but people aren't giving up just yet," Krippendorff said. "Being 0-4, people are tired of explaining that we're better but we're still losing." A positive perspective will go only so far.