W. Soccer set to kick off tough 2004 schedule

Over the last three years, the Penn women's soccer team has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence in college soccer.

Now the reward for the work by coach Darren Ambrose and his team has been delivered, with the release of the Quakers' 2004 schedule.

It is by Ambrose's own admission one of the toughest schedules that the Quakers have ever faced.

But it is also proof of the progress Penn has made with Katy Cross, Lydia Bojcun, Rachelle Snyder and the many other players Ambrose has brought to Philadelphia in his tenure.

The team's season opener will be tomorrow against the College of Charleston.

Two days later will come one of the biggest games in Penn soccer history, as Texas A&M; which finished last season ranked No. 11 nationally in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and is currently ranked 18th in the nation comes to Rhodes Field.

The next weekend, the Quakers will host the Penn Soccer Invitational, also at Rhodes Field.

On Friday, Sept. 10, Penn will play Vanderbilt, followed by Villanova on Sunday afternoon.

Penn's first road trip of the season will be when the team heads west to take on the University of California at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco on Sept. 17 and 19, respectively.

That weekend will be both a homecoming and a final farewell for Penn's three California-born seniors Cross, Snyder and Libby Bersot.

"We wanted to take some of those players back to their home state," Ambrose said.

The first Ivy League game of the season is Sunday, Sept. 26, at home against Harvard.

Although the beginning of Ivy League play traditionally signals the end of out-of-conference games, there will be four more encounters with non-Ancient Eight opposition after the Crimson come to town.

The following Wednesday, Penn will play at La Salle.

Other out-of-conference games include Oct. 12 against Drexel at home, Oct. 20 at Rider and Oct. 27 against Lehigh at Rhodes Field.

The final game of the regular season is Saturday, Nov. 6, at Princeton.

The rigorous schedule has left Penn with only two week-long breaks between games: between San Francisco and Harvard in September and between Brown and Princeton at the end of the season.

But that can also be considered the price of success, and the price of being a team that other schools want to have on their schedule.

"People want to play us, and that won't change down the road," Ambrose said.

And for the Red and Blue's fifth-year head coach, 2004 is only the beginning when it comes to mixing it up with big national programs.

"We'll have some big games in '05 and '06 I guess that's a result of the success we've had."

Ambrose and the women of Penn soccer will have their hands full as they strive to recapture the Ivy League title and establish themselves as a top 25 program by facing ranked teams and getting positive results.

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