The Penn women's soccer team is riding a four-game unbeaten streak, a 2-0 league record and a recent 3-0 demolition of league rival Cornell. Tomorrow, the Quakers welcome Ivy cellar dweller Columbia (5-4-0, 0-2-0 Ivy) to Rhodes Field.
This would seem like the ideal time to take a deep breath and relax.
Or would it?
The players, and especially Penn coach Darren Ambrose, certainly do not think so.
"There's no easy game in the league, and we know it," Ambrose said. "In the last two years, we've tied Columbia and it's gone on to cost us a [top] spot in the league."
Indeed, the Lions have presented substantial road blocks for the Quakers in the past two seasons.
Two years ago, Penn held a 2-0 lead at halftime, only to squander its advantage and finish in a 2-2 tie. The team went on to finish third in the Ivy League.
Last year, it was more of the same for the Red and Blue. Favored heavily in the matchup, Penn went into New York and tied Columbia, 1-1. With too few wins at the end of the season, the Quakers' 3-2 defeat of nationally ranked Princeton proved inconsequential, as they went on to finish fourth place in the Ivy League.
The past two seasons have truly gone against the grain of history. The pair of draws represent the only two in the all-time series between Penn and Columbia, in which Penn holds a modest 7-4-2 advantage.
Although the Quakers acknowledge that this Columbia team does not pose the kind of threat that other league foes do, the players see the importance of remaining focused.
"Basically, the thing with Columbia is that you've always got to get up ready to play them," junior defender Robin Watson said. "They're not the best team in the league, but they always give us trouble. Really, we've just got to fight and want it, really go for the win."
"There is no easy game, and the girls know that this is as big a game as Harvard or Princeton," Ambrose said.
Careful not to get snake-bitten and face the bitter taste of the last two years' disappointments, the Quakers are cautious, yet motivated, in their preparations for tomorrow.
Ambrose is happy with the way practice has gone. "The first two days we had were up-tempo, competitive, very successful," he said. "We're doing pretty well."
A large part of the team's recent wave of success has been the scorching play of senior forward Rachelle Snyder. In Penn's past two wins against La Salle and Cornell, she has tallied 11 points. This Tuesday, she was named Ivy League Player of the Week.
"I'm just trying to concentrate and do what I can to help the team," Snyder said. The Red and Blue will look for her to continue her hot play against the Lions.
As far as a game plan goes, most of Penn's defensive attention will be focused on Columbia sophomore striker Shannon Munoz.
"We know that she's dangerous," Ambrose said.
Munoz presents a challenge to Watson and the rest of the defensive corps for the Quakers.
"She's big, she's strong. So basically, the main thing is to shut her down," Watson said.
As for his team's chances at winning an Ivy League championship, Ambrose's response was simply, "I'll tell you at the end of the season."
"Why not? We're 2-0," he continued. "But this team knows. We've been there before in the sense that you can't look down the road in this league; it's one game at a time. If we beat Columbia, then we'll worry about Drexel."
