'What time is it? It's 7:45, and Princeton still sucks!" the Penn Band shouted at the women's lacrosse game last night.
Apparently, the band doesn't go to too many lacrosse games.
The cheer may be viable at football or basketball contests. But in women's lacrosse, sorry, guys, Princeton does not suck. I don't care how you slice it.
The Tigers extended their winning streak over the Quakers to 12 after taking it to the home team last night.
This time, however, something was different. The Quakers squad has been improving year by year, and last night the Penn players thought, and even half-expected, that they could beat Princeton.
"This is my first recruiting class here as seniors and this is the first time I've had kids that, tonight, believed they could beat them," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "I think in the past, they've always been scared of Princeton."
Even the Tigers' head coach, Chris Sailer -- who has been at Princeton for 19 years, consistently winning championships and beating the Quakers -- knew coming in that last night was different.
"What I will say about Penn is that they're getting better every year," Sailer said. "The Penn program has really developed since Karin has been here, and I know it wasn't as competitive in the first half tonight, but Penn's got a good team. We were fortunate that we were just able to get a good effort tonight."
So, for all the optimism and the "this might be the year" atmosphere, Penn still dropped the game in convincing fashion. Just like last year, the year before that and the year before that.
Last night was a clash between one team at the top of its sport, and another clawing its way up the ladder, trying to get there itself. Obviously, the Quakers aren't there yet.
Just what do the Tigers do -- or have -- that ensures them year-after-year success? What can the Quakers see in the Princeton program to learn and put in practice for themselves to produce similar results?
It all comes down to one thing, and both Sailer and Brower know what it is.
"Success breeds success," they both said.
The fact of the matter is, a program's success in the long term is a direct testament to its recruiting ability.
Princeton has clear advantages over any team in the country when it comes to recruiting, and much of that rests on the program's successful history and the reputation it has built.
"They have a tradition of winning, and that's what we're trying to create here, and it's a long road," Brower said. "I think that when they step on the field, they expect to win."
Just how hard is it for a program like Penn to compete with that? It isn't difficult, for Brower at least, to put into words.
"When you're a 17-year-old kid and you're looking at the top academic school in the country and [a school that has] won the last two national championships, how [does one] compete with that for recruits?" Brower wondered. "Head-to-head, I have never beaten one. Over six years, I have never gotten a kid to choose Penn over Princeton."
Although there has been noticeable improvement under Brower, last night showed that Penn still has a long way to go.
"Every program that becomes a dominant one starts somewhere, and you have to have a couple of breakthrough wins," Sailer said. "That proves to your kids you can do it, it proves to recruits that 'we're a team of the future,' and I'm sure Penn's going to have those."
Last night, against a team it has not beaten in 12 years, would have been a nice place to start. Unfortunately for the Quakers, it looks like they still have some time to wait.
Ilario Huober is a freshman in the College from Syracuse, N.Y. His e-mail address is ihuober@sas.upenn.edu.
