F. Hockey relies on veteran core

Pure talent can win you a championship. A strong program might earn you two. But for the Penn field hockey team to be successful in its quest to sit atop the Ivy League for a third consecutive year, it will take something more. It will take the kind of poise and composure that only comes with experience -- the kind of poise and composure the Quakers believe they possess in this year's nucleus of upperclassmen. The solid Penn nucleus will undergo its first major psychological test of the season when the Quakers (1-0) face a young, hungry Villanova team at 7:00 p.m. today at Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats (2-0) play a rough, loose brand of hockey designed to pressure opponents into mistakes and produce easy scoring chances. "Villanova is very aggressive, very intimidating and they play a lot of big ball," Penn coach Anne Sage said. The Wildcats start only one senior in the field to guide a slew of raw, inexperienced underclassmen, a fact which may only increase Villanova's chaotic style. "The freshmen we brought in are extremely quick and the sophomores have returned a lot stronger than last year," Villanova coach Jackie Gerzabeck said. "What we lack in skill, we will make up for with quickness and aggressiveness." It's precisely that relentless pressure the Quakers must quell to keep the game under their control. "There's nothing tricky about their play," Penn assistant coach Val Cloud said. "They're on you, they don't give you any breathing room and they're marking you all over. They just want to stop the ball and they don't care if they have to foul you to do it. You've got to have good sticks because they rely on you to make fielding mistakes." The Quakers plan to make few adjustments in their physical game plan, focusing instead on preparing themselves mentally to maintain their poise. "We really don't concentrate too much on the other team's play," junior sweeper Sue Quinn said. "We plan to just go out and play our game." In this young season, Penn's game has been a controlled passing game designed to dictate the tempo on the field, a strategy the Quakers carried off beautifully Saturday in their 3-0 victory over St. Joseph's. "Against St. Joe's, we controlled the game as a team," Sage said. "In the past, one group might play well, while another wouldn't. Last Saturday, we were a model of consistency." Today with the more physical Wildcats, Penn may have more trouble sticking to the script. "I'd like to see us not drop down to their level," Sage said. "I prefer that approach. It's simply a matter of execution and not allowing another team to intimidate us. Penn can't let Villanova push them around."