Two teams with identical overall and conference records will square off tomorrow afternoon as the Penn field hockey team makes its last road trip of the season, traveling to Providence, R.I.
The Quakers (10-5, 3-2 Ivy) need a victory over Brown to clinch their second winning season in the Ancient Eight in the last three years.
With a win, this year's Quakers team will be the first to have both a winning season in the Ivies and a winning record overall since the 1995 season.
With No. 8 Princeton waiting for them next Friday, the Quakers realize that tomorrow might be the last chance for them to earn their fourth Ivy League victory.
"We want to go out there and play our game," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "Brown is a very tough team but I think our girls are up for the challenge."
The Quakers could have clinched a winning Ivy record last weekend, but fell to Yale, 2-1, in the final five minutes. While the Yale game was a tough one to swallow given that both teams were deadlocked for most of the game, Penn is putting it behind them.
"Yale was definitely a heartbreaker, but it motivated us for our next Ivy games," senior co-captain Emily Farnesi said. "We are hungrier for a victory now."
A win on the road will put this year's Penn team on a higher level than any other team of the current decade. The Quakers have already seen two individual records broken by Liz Lorelli and came a game short of tying the program record for consecutive wins.
"We know there will be two tough games for us to finish the season," Farnesi said. "We want to give our best showing in both."
But while this season has already exceeded expectations, the Red and Blue still want to make an impact against the teams that matter most.
"We want to make a statement this year and finish in the upper half in the Ivy League," Cloud said. "We know we have the team this year to do it."
Unlike Yale's explosive offense, the Bears follow a more systematic game play emphasizing ball control on defense.
Brown has only averaged two goals a game this season.
While their offense ranks near the bottom of the league, the Bears have scored 11 goals in their current three-game winning streak.
"They have the momentum of three wins coming into Saturday," Cloud said. "So they are going to be tough."
The Quakers defense will be focusing on Brown senior forward Lizzie Buza, who leads the Bears in offense with six goals and six assists. The regional All-American was one of 19 senior athletes selected to the North roster of the Division I North-South Senior All-Star game, which will be held on Nov. 22.
As the last away game for several graduating seniors, the Quakers want to leave Providence with a victory.
"We developed into a much stronger team while we went through our seven-game win streak," Farnesi said. "Yale was a setback, but we haven't lost the desire to win."
