One team is going to walk out of Franklin Field tomorrow excited and breathing a sigh of relief, while the other will be left with yet another mark in the loss column.
When the Penn field hockey team takes on Harvard (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) in its first game of Ivy League play tomorrow, each side will be looking for its first win of the season.
The Quakers (0-3, 0-0 Ivy) have dropped games to Syracuse, Ohio State and Saint Joseph's so far this season, while the Crimson have fallen to Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Last year, Harvard managed a mere 2-5 record in the Ivy League, good enough for sixth place. One of those wins came against Penn when the Crimson scored with 10 minutes remaining in the game to make the final score 1-0.
And if history were to repeat itself, things wouldn't look good for the Quakers - they have fallen to Harvard in their last seven meetings. The Crimson have also won their last 10 Ivy openers, adding more pressure onto the Red and Blue to pull out a win.
But Penn senior Melina Tsui thinks her team is ready, despite the past games and this year's shaky start.
"We know we can beat Harvard, we just have to show everyone else we have it," Tsui said.
As a team captain, Tsui has the task of helping to get her team in the right frame of mind for tomorrow's game.
"After three losses, my thinking is that it's a challenge right now," Tsui said. "This should get us fired up. . This should get us pumped to play Harvard because it's our time right now to show the Ivy League and everyone else what we're made of."
With a strong defense in front of Penn goalie Liz Schlossberg, who was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll for the week, perhaps the Quakers' biggest key to tomorrow's game for will be putting points on the board.
"We just have to figure out how to get the ball in the net," junior forward Jamie Calahan said.
Coach Val Cloud believes her team has been preparing well, though.
"We have been working on scoring. It's just not showing up in the game," Cloud said.
While the Quakers have failed to net one in each of their losses, Harvard has managed to score a goal in each of its games.
Around the Ivy League, in addition to Penn and Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton and Columbia also have yet to record wins this season, while Cornell has gone undefeated in three games. The Tigers were the League champion last year.
But before looking ahead to those other Ivy League competitors, the Quakers must concentrate on this game to get their first win of this season.
And Cloud's message is simple: "Beat Harvard. We gotta beat Harvard."
