W. Soccer faces tough weekend

Penn will play talented Harvard and BU teams at this weekend's Harvard Tournament. Fresh off its largest offensive output this season and in the midst of a three-game shutout streak, the Penn women's soccer team hopes to continue its winning ways when it heads to Cambridge, Mass., for the Harvard Tournament this weekend. The Quakers (4-1-1, 2-0 Ivy League) will put their perfect league record on the line when they face Harvard, which is also unbeaten in the Ivies, on Saturday afternoon. Penn will play again on Sunday, when it faces Boston University. The Quakers knocked off Temple 4-0 on Wednesday on the strength of senior forward Andrea Callaghan's two goals. Callaghan also added an assist and goalkeeper Katherine Hunt stretched her shutout streak to three games. Prior to exploding for four goals against the Owls, Penn had been struggling with a low goal output. Still, the Quakers have been able to put together a five-match unbeaten streak. They have won two crucial league games, pulling off 1-0 victories over both Dartmouth and Cornell. The Quakers defense has been strong all season long, allowing only four goals in six games. "It's not just the defense or Kathy [Hunt]," co-captain and defender Deane Kocivar-Norbury said. "The whole team is putting up the effort." Penn is hoping that the scoring touch discovered against Temple will carry over against rival Harvard (4-1-1, 2-0) on Saturday. "In any day I think we can score four goals against a lot of teams," Penn coach Andy Nelson said. Despite an unconvincing history against the Crimson, including a 2-1 defeat last year, the Quakers are convinced that they will do more than just put up a fight. "We're 0-8 against them," co-captain Jennifer Danielson said, referring to Harvard's domination of Penn in the past. But, she added "I think our whole team is ready to play." But beating Harvard for the first time in Penn history will not be easy. "Harvard is a very good team," Nelson said. "But I feel we are capable of beating them." The Crimson won three straight Ivy titles from '95-97 and have beaten Yale and Columbia this season already. "It's critical to beat Harvard considering they have been the dominant team," Kocivar-Norbury said. "But it's just as critical as beating any other team." In order to beat Harvard, Penn must come out firing. "We've got to start the game real fast," Nelson said. "See what they're made of." Kocivar-Norbury added that the team has been focused on its own strengths, not Harvard's. "We want to make it our game, not a reaction to them." Nelson is confident in his team, and will be relying this weekend on the strong play of his midfielders to continue. "They're really looking forward," he said. "Top to bottom, every one is preparing themselves as best as they can." After the Red and Blue's league matchup, they must prepare for another rough contest as they play the Terriers at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. BU is 6-3 and beat Yale Tuesday to run its winning streak to four games, tied for the longest in the program's four-plus year history. "We've got two very tough games this weekend," Nelson said. "But we're not going to worry about BU until Saturday night." Until then, however, the Quakers have just one thing on their minds -- finally getting their first-ever win against a program that has owned them in the past.