COLUMN: Sage makes '99 forgettable for W. Lax

From Rick Haggerty's, "House of Haggs" The Red and Blue have already set a mark for ineptitude by losing their first seven games of the '99 campaign and are on course to finish with the lowest winning percentage in Penn history. Before that record book is sent to the printer, however, perhaps someone could place an asterisk next to those two undesirable accomplishments. Although the Quakers may only have a 1-8 record, their mark is about as indicative of their talent as their hair colors and skirt lengths are. While Penn's opponents have been working on various aspects of play since fall ball, the Quakers have been forced to play catch-up for the entire spring. Last month, all 22 Penn players signed a petition requesting the removal of head coach Anne Sage. Players complained about the lack of structure in Sage's practices -- practices that junior co-captain Brooke Jenkins said featured "a lot of standing around." "There was a lot of inconsistency," senior co-captain Jenni Leisman added. "The drills weren't always explained well and there was a lot of confusion on the team." All of this occurred when Sage would show up for practice -- which was not always a certainty. So while every other Ivy League women's lacrosse team was ready to go on the first official day of practice on February 1, the Quakers had not even begun the necessary preseason preparation. Penn assistant coach Alanna Wren had the head coaching duties fall into her lap the week before the Quakers' spring break trip to Florida. While Wren has done an admirable job in trying to salvage the season and put the Quakers in position to win, the '99 season was already a lost cause. A whole offseason of preparation could not be made up for in one week. Throughout their season, countless problems have plagued the Quakers. Poor shot selection has caused numerous balls to go flying past the cage or into the waiting pocket of the opposing goalie. And at times earlier this season, the Penn midfield transition game played out like a bloopers reel; the Quakers dropped almost as many passes as they caught. These are problems that most Division I programs fix well before the start of the season. Penn is just beginning to sort out these issues now -- nine games into a 13-game season. Penn has four games remaining on the schedule and they are four of the toughest games of the year. Rutgers, Dartmouth, Princeton and Brown are all ranked nationally. The Quakers must win two of these games to avoid finishing with the worst winning percentage in school history. For a team whose only win came against Columbia -- a program in its third year of existence that has never won an Ivy contest -- winning two of these games does not seem likely. So will the Quakers go down in history with the worst record ever at Penn? Unless they can turn their play up a few notches and garner two upsets, they probably will. Does that mean the '99 Quakers are the worst women's lacrosse team Penn has ever fielded? No. The women's lacrosse program has been on a steady decline for the past several years. This season that slide hit rock bottom and the players decided they could not take it anymore. Leisman admits that Sage's unstructured practices had been occurring throughout her four years at Penn. She also knows that the problems with Sage began well before her own freshman year. For a team that is trying to be competitive at the Division I level, having a coach who cannot so much as run a practice is a recipe for disaster. Sage started the women's lacrosse program at Penn and is regarded as a pioneer in women's sports. She is the only active coach to take both a lacrosse and a field hockey team to the Final Four. But she is well past her prime. Sage had been driving the Penn program into the ground for several years before the team took action -- the Quakers have not had a winning Ivy record since 1986. Sage has a contract that extends until the end of next season and the Athletic Department has yet to make an announcement on her status. But even though Sage remains the official head coach, she has not had any contact with the team this entire season. For now, this squad belongs to Wren and recently hired assistant Sarah Harris. Each day, these two women help the Quakers with aspects of their game that need improvement and they do this in structured, organized practices -- something most of the Quakers have not encountered at the college level. The fact that their official head coach's status is in limbo has not had a negative effect on the Quakers. Instead, Anne Sage could not be further removed from the women's lacrosse program. Her emotional impact on the team is as invisible as her physical presence on the sidelines. According to Wren, the impact of Sage's removal was only felt during the week when the petition was presented to the Athletic Department. The turmoil surrounding Sage's removal caused the Quakers to miss a week of practice before the Florida trip. Since then, though, the Quakers have just focused on becoming better lacrosse players. And regardless of official titles, this Penn team thinks of Alanna Wren as its coach, not Anne Sage. Wren is doing everything she can to improve the program and she acknowledges that if taking the head coaching position will help the program, she might be interested in pursuing it. But for now, her focus is on these four remaining games. Soon, Penn will be prepared enough and sharp enough to be a competitive program. But it will be too late. At the end of this season, they will be where they should have been at the beginning. Maybe when the final touches are put on that record book, someone will take that into consideration and give the Quakers their deserved asterisk. Because it would be a shame if Anne Sage got no credit for her work. Her inability to do her job has caused an entire season to be lost.