F. Hockey starts stretch run heading into Lions' den

The Penn field hockey team hopes to overcome the roar of the Columbia Lions when they travel to New York City tomorrow for an Ivy League matchup at 6:30 p.m. The Quakers (8-3, 1-2 Ivy) have won three games in a row after defeating West Chester and William & Mary, both 1-0, over the weekend, and overcoming Temple, 3-1, Wednesday at Temple. The streak is their longest of the season, and Columbia should not prove to be a challenging barrier on the way to increasing the win streak to four. Columbia's field hockey program made the switch from a club to a varsity sport two years ago. Last season, the Lions did not play a full Ivy League season, rendering it unofficial. This is their first official Ivy schedule, and it has not been pretty so far. "From just looking at scores, you can see they've had a tough haul -- they've been beat up," Penn coach Val Cloud said. Although Saturday's game won't be the biggest of the season, it will begin a stretch drive for Penn, in which the team will play its remaining Ivy opponents, including fifth-ranked Princeton and two other nationally ranked teams, Penn State and Maryland. The Quakers will need to play out their schedule without a loss, and hope for a Princeton loss, in order to set up a showdown for the Ivy League crown and an NCAA Tournament berth when the Tigers come to town for the season finale November 7. "I think there's going to be a sense of urgency all around, with intense play and scoring," Penn senior co-captain Michelle Canuso-Bedesem said. If the Quakers expect to survive the rest of the season undefeated, they will need to get more penalty corner opportunities. Although the team came away with victories, it has been out-cornered in each of its last three games. "It's a surprising problem," said Cloud. "In the past, [corners] have been our big offensive weapon but we're just not giving ourselves that opportunity." Fortunately for Penn, a lack of corner opportunities has not meant a lack of scoring. The Quakers have netted their goals from the field recently, behind strong play of sophomore midfielder Maureen Flynn and senior co-captain Emily Hansel. "We've just been playing a lot harder," Hansel said. "Things are clicking as a team, our passing game is getting better, and we're reading each other's cuts better." The Quakers will be missing two key players against Columbia, as freshman starter Cindy Quinn will sit out Saturday's game with tonsillitis, and defender Audrey Heinel recovers from a knee injury. "One thing I knew about this team from the start was that we have depth," Cloud said. "You can't say that about a lot of other teams. I used to cringe when I had to substitute elsewhere.