In order to win a championship in the proper manner, a team must knock off a defending champion or bitter rival along the way.
In 1989, Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons had to exorcise their demons and defeat Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics en route to an NBA championship.
For the Boston Red Sox to ever taste World Series glory, they must reverse the curse of the Bambino and defeat the mighty New York Yankees.
If the 2004 Penn women's soccer team has serious aspirations of winning an Ivy League championship, it must defeat Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Sunday..
Dartmouth is the defending Ivy League champion and defeated the Quakers, 2-0, last year while posting an undefeated Ivy League campaign.
While Dartmouth is not as strong this year, sitting on a 1-2 league record, it nevertheless has a target on its back.
"The fact that they're Ivy League champions ... it'll be nice to knock them off," Penn senior forward Katy Cross said.
Cross spoke with utter confidence, almost hinting that this weekend's result is predestined. With the way the team has played recently, she is certainly justified.
In their last five games, including three Ivy contests, the Quakers are 5-0. The Red and Blue have scored 13 goals while giving up only one during that stretch.
"Our confidence is really high right now," Cross said. "We've had not just decisive wins, but we've also been playing well."
Already 3-0 in the Ivy League, the Quakers have begun to believe they can win a title.
"We know it's possible," Cross said. "The biggest thing this year is that it's totally in our hands. It's definitely crossed our minds and gives us extra motivation each game."
So far the Quakers have held serve, although they've been tested only once. In its league opener, Penn defeated a dangerous Harvard team that is currently lurking one game behind in the Ivy standings.
The past two weeks, the Red and Blue have defeated Ivy bottom-feeders Cornell and Columbia.
That brings us to this weekend's contest against the defending Ivy champions.
Though Cross had the chance to build the game up in epic hyperbole usually reserved for October contests between the "Evil Empire" in New York and the self-proclaimed "Idiots" in Boston, she would not acquiesce.
"Right now this is the biggest game of our season because it's our next game," she said.
Perhaps this is the right attitude for the Ivy League. With only seven games on the schedule, each and every contest can make or break a season.
If Penn defeats Dartmouth this weekend, it does not mean that the Quakers will easily coast to a title. They still have a Nov. 6 date with undefeated Princeton which could potentially decide the league.
However, knocking off Dartmouth this weekend will legitimize the Quakers' chances of their first Ancient Eight title since 2001.
Penn must climb the hill that Isiah Thomas could and Pedro Martinez still hasn't been able to. If they can defeat Dartmouth, the Quakers will be one giant step closer to the summit.
Andrew Jamieson is a junior international relations major from New York. His e-mail address is jamiesoa@sas.upenn.edu.
