There are no cupcake games for the Penn women's soccer team. For the Quakers, it seems not to matter whether the opponent is Harvard, the defending Ivy League champion, Columbia -- whom the Quakers play this coming weekend -- or Drexel, today's opponent. They're all important.
There is no question that this coming weekend's road clash with Columbia is a key game for the Quakers' Ivy League title hopes, and sophomore midfielder Jenna Linden believes that today's results will set the tone for that game.
"Drexel is as big as any game we'll have all year because of the impact it can have on us entering an Ivy League game," Linden said.
Her coach agreed.
"Every game is our most important game right now," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said. "We can't afford to look past anyone."
The Quakers (4-2-2, 1-1 Ivy) will face a Drexel squad that enters the match on a four game losing streak and has scored just twice in that stretch.
Yet despite having beaten the Dragons (2-9) 5-1 last year, and having played their best game of this season against Cornell three days ago, the Red and Blue are trying not to get overconfident.
"Drexel is a scrappy team -- they'll fight hard," Penn junior Jessica Woodward said. "It's a midweek game; we can't come out on our heels, we need to come out on our toes and play the way we know how to play."
Although the Penn men's soccer team has complained about the turf at other Philadelphia schools after games against Temple and La Salle, Ambrose doesn't anticipate any problems this afternoon.
"It's a soccer field -- it's a good surface to play on," he said. "So I don't think that's going to be an issue."
Due to the timing of the game and the opponent, Ambrose also does not anticipate any distractions coming from the sidelines.
"Some Ivy games the crowd becomes a real issue," he said. "But with Drexel midweek, we don't anticipate there being a lot of crowd involvement."
Penn hopes to regain the full services of forward Rachelle Snyder, who has been recovering from an ankle injury over the last few weeks. Snyder played a little against Cornell, but she still is not completely fit.
"She is willing to play with a lot of pain," Linden said.
Despite missing three games completely -- against La Salle, Harvard and George Mason -- and playing sparingly against Cornell, Snyder remains fourth on the Quakers in points.
