F. Hockey hoping for first winning streak

Penn coach Val Cloud is confident the Quakers can get on a roll after beating William and Mary. While the temperature is falling in Philadelphia, the Penn field hockey team's hopes are starting to rise. After a much-needed 1-0 win over William and Mary last Sunday that ended a six-game losing streak, Penn will try to put together consecutive wins for the first time this season when it faces Stanford tonight at 7 p.m. at Franklin Field. The win, the Quakers' first since they beat Villanova on September 14, was enough to change the mood of the team in practice this week. "We've definitely been more confident and that makes us more upbeat," Penn junior defender Amna Nawaz said. "There's more focus in practice this week," sophomore forward Maria Karas added. "Since we won, people have been looking forward to the next game." Tonight begins a three-game stretch through which the Quakers believe they can achieve respectability. Penn hosts Bucknell on Sunday and travels to Temple Wednesday. "I expect to leave with those games behind us 3-0," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "I'd be very disappointed if we didn't.? They're three very winnable games." Sweeping these three games would improve Penn's record to 5-7 with five games left to play, three of which are against Ivy opponents. And while Cloud concedes that there will almost certainly be no playoffs or championships this year, she is optimistic about playing well the rest of the season. "We started out on a low note, we're going to build and hopefully this middle of the season will help us to do that and get the confidence back to play the tougher games," Cloud said. While the possibility of Penn finishing close to or above .500 after a horrid start is very much alive, the Quakers cannot commit a cardinal sin by looking past the beatable Cardinal tonight. In playing Stanford, Penn faces a young but well-coached team in a rebuilding phase after losing many of its seniors from last year's team. "They don't seem to be as impressive as they were last year," Cloud noted. But this will not matter if Penn doesn't put the ball in the net. The Quakers have scored only one goal in their last two games as they were shut out by lowly Columbia one week ago and notched a solitary tally against William and Mary, which turned out to be enough for a win. "Hopefully we'll get a few more goals than just one [against Stanford]," Cloud said. "At least one more than they have." "We're definitely capable of scoring," Penn senior forward and co-captain Leah Bills said. "We just need to execute on the opportunities that we do create." To this end, Penn has used its reinforced confidence in practice this week to work on finishing scoring chances. "Scoring's been our weakest this season, so this week we've been working on? doing drills inside the circle and taking shots," Karas said. The Quakers will do anything they can to score against Stanford. "Whether it's forcing a foul inside the circle to create a corner, which is another scoring opportunity, or just getting a shot off on goal, I think that's been our main focus this week," Bills said. "I think we're improving." Stanford will try to continue its Philadelphia winning streak after beating Temple yesterday, 2-1. "It should be a good matchup," Cloud said. "We're guaranteed a shot if we execute."

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