W. Soccer

This season has been a learning experience for the young Penn women's soccer team. But it hopes that this time the underdog will be able to teach the Bulldogs new tricks. The Quakers (0-5 Ivy League, 3-7-1 overall) face off against Yale (3-2, 6-5-1) tonight in New Haven. They hope to finally be able to make the hard-learned lessons of Ivy play work for them. "We've earned a lot about each other's style of play," senior captain and goaltender Debbie Goldklang said. "We have to go in ready to win, and not panic." Despite Goldklang's calming influence, with only three games remaining the Quakers know that this is do-or-die time. An Ivy League win was the preseason goal, and their chances to achieve this are dwindling. Even though the Elis defeated Penn 6-0 last year on their way to the Ivy championship, the Quakers are not intimidated by their opponent's past history. They are not putting any additional pressure on themselves. "Yale was at the top of the Ivy League last year," Penn head coach Suzette Wolf said. "They're deceivingly the strongest team in the Ivies. For some reason they don't seem to show it." "Last year, we lost pretty badly," sophomore defender Meg Kinney said. "This year, it's going to be a completely different game." But the Quakers will have to deal with a tough Yale team led by Ivy League Player of the Year and second-team all-America senior forward Jen Teti. "They have very solid players," Goldklang said. "They're solid on the midfield, solid on defense. But Jen Teti is their go-to girl." "Jen Teti pretty much runs the team," Wolf said. "She's not a scoring threat, but she's a dominating kind of player. She's all over the field, and the team revolves around her." The coaching staff does not expect any changes in the game plan for today's game against Yale. That means that sophomore midfielder Heike Krippendorff and freshman defender Heather Herson will probably be splitting defensive duties on Teti, as they have on other teams' stars. "Heike and Heather have successfully neutralized all the players' they've defended this season," Goldklang said. "They deserve more credit than what shows up in the box score. Our defense has to be alert, and that's just going to come down to communication." The game will be played on a natural-grass surface in New Haven. Though the Quakers play their home games on astroturf at Franklin Field, they do not anticipate any problems adjusting. "You can't play quality soccer on turf," Kinney said. "We practice on grass, we're comfortable on grass. Most of us have played on grass for our entire lives." In fact, the grass surface will be beneficial for both teams' ball-control ground game. "[Both teams] play very controlled and disciplined games," Wolf said. "They play better by keeping the ball on the ground." With only two more chances left for that coveted Ivy win, the odds are stacked against the Quakers. But despite that, the Quakers' optimism continues no matter what. "I don't think we've got anything to lose," Kinney said. "I hope we're going to go out there and make a good showing." "We can play with Yale very easily," Wolf said. "We're not going in scared, but we're going in careful."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.