Field Hockey faces in-state rival Ursinus at home

Penn's new marketing director Bill Richter hopes to help the Quakers win games by boosting the attendance level. The dream of winning an Ivy League championship dances in the heads of the Penn field hockey team. Before they conquer the ultimate dream, however, they must first win the smaller battles. Tonight, the Quakers battle Ursinus at 7 p.m. on Franklin Field. "Ursinus is a preparation game for Harvard," junior tri-captain Maureen Flynn said. The Quakers are looking for their third Ivy victory when they face Harvard on Saturday. Although Ursinus is not a component in Penn's quest for the Ivy title, the Quakers will not look beyond the Leopards. "We will not take [Ursinus] lightly after Lafayette," coach Val Cloud said. "We didn't play near our potential or give our full effort." The Quakers experienced a rude awakening when the Leopards came ready to play at the sound of the whistle, rarely allowing Penn to gain control of the ball in the first half. The Leopards defeated Penn 2-0 in the non-league game. Penn says it has learned its lesson and has no plans for a sequel against Lafayette tonight. "Other than Lafayette, [the team] played the best [they] could play that day," Cloud said, referring to Penn's games versus Villanova, Dartmouth and Cornell. "They never die and always play real hard until the end." Cloud attributed playing hard until the end to one of the strongest qualities in this season's squad, their depth. Depth, however, is not the team's only strength. The midfield has shown to be Penn's strongest section on the field. To balance the play on the field between all three sections -- offense, defense and the midfield -- the team focused on a few keys points of the game this past week in practice. "We have been working on our spacing and team play of passing," Cloud said. In addition, the team worked on "giving up less corners in the defensive end" and improving on its free hits and overall shooting in the offensive end. "We need to get more shots through better team passing and then we will score more," Cloud said. Although the midfield has dominated most of the play, "at times [they] try to do to much instead of keeping the ball moving," Cloud said. To maintain the pace of the ball, the team "worked on channeling the ball down the sidelines," according to Flynn. In addition to directing the ball at a quicker pace, the team worked on defensive stops in the midfield. The Quakers want to lessen the number of fast breaks through the midfield that the opposing teams have been capitalizing on. "If we put everything together and relax, letting the ball do the work, we should do very well [against Ursinus]," Cloud said.