SEASON REVIEW: W. Soccer keeps on getting better

Optimism among players and coaches is obviously not directly related to a team's number of wins. Although the Penn women's soccer team tallied the same amount of wins as last year, everyone seems relatively satisfied –– a far cry from the disarray and negativity present before the hiring of first-year coach Patrick Baker. "They didn't have a lot of training in the offseason last year," Baker said, "and the former coach [Suzette Wolf], when she knew she wasn't going to be back at Penn, dropped the recruiting baton and there was no one to pick it up." The Quakers (4-11, 1-6 Ivy League) ran their own practices until Baker was awarded the position. He essentially started from scratch with the young team. "We were trying to find some chemistry in the starting 11, and some new roles for some players to play," Baker said. "All that is easier said than done." The season started out very slowly for Penn, as the team lost its first five games before defeating Lehigh. Nonetheless, the Quakers remained confident their coach would pull them through the season. "He concentrated more on skill-work and we did tons of drills involving game situations," junior co-captain Kelly Nolan said. "It's such a change from last year.The desire has improved a lot and the skill level also. The credit goes to our coach for that." Solid coaching, however, was just one of the reasons for the team's better play this year. "I don't think our record exemplifies how we play," Nolan said. "I think anyone who saw us play can say we have improved so much over last year. We played so much more as a team." After a well-played 1-0 loss to Harvard, the Quakers realized they deserved more respect than they had been giving themselves. "For Harvard to come to our park, and for us to lose only 1-0 and for them to get to the NCAA tournament, that's very uplifting," Baker said. Not only Harvard, but Dartmouth and Brown, also earned tournament berths as the Ivy League gained a reputation as one of the more difficult leagues. After the game against Harvard, Penn stormed through a three-game winning streak as it left Columbia, Drexel and Lafayette in its wake. Despite losing the last four games of the season, Penn seems to have an optimistic outlook for next year. "Each year's going to be different," Baker said. "I think we're going to put a better team out on the field. One of the things they haven't had is big-time structure in the offseason, and we're going to provide that for them." While Baker trains the players he has –– none of whom will be graduating –– he plans to launch a recruiting program to fill in the gaps. "We're going to do whatever it takes," he said. "I'm very excited about the recruits that we've had already and the ones that are coming in before January. We have a pool of about 45 players we're really high on. Of that 45, if 35 apply and 20 get in, we can at least get six to eight of those top, top players. They're excited and we're excited." Baker stresses that he, by no means, plans to create an entirely new team of recruits. "We've got a good group to work with," he said. "I'm going to make every individual player a better player and when it comes to August and we get three or four really good players, they're going to make us that much better." While creating an offseason training program, Baker will go on the assumption that he will get no recruits. Whether or not Penn adds any new talent, the Quakers will look forward to a drastically improved 1995 season, he hopes. "I think we're going to improve a lot," Nolan said. "Things can only get better."

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