F. Hockey looking to prove it's a new team

Nothing was going right three weeks ago. The Quakers had lost two games in a row and four out of five. A 2-1 defeat to Dartmouth at the end of that stretch effectively ended Penn's title hopes.

Since then, the Quakers have scored 11 goals during a season-high four-game winning streak.

Penn (7-7, 2-2 Ivy) is looking to continue its recent surge against Yale (3-10, 2-2) tomorrow afternoon in New Haven, Conn.

Assistant coach Jeremy Cook attributes the recent success to improved team chemistry as the season progressed.

"It took us a little bit longer than we were hoping to get together, to get on the same page," Cook said. "The style of hockey that we're playing is very possession-oriented, very team-oriented, so if people aren't on the same page, it doesn't work."

Goalkeeper Liz Schlossberg doesn't believe the timing is coincidental. After the loss to Dartmouth, the captain noticed a more relaxed attitude among the players, which has helped their performance.

"We really just started enjoying playing again, playing for fun and playing for ourselves," she said.

Schlossberg - who has dealt with nagging injuries all year long - received a rare day off on Wednesday, marking the first time in over a year that she didn't play. Neither Schlossberg nor the coaching staff, however, has any doubt that she will start tomorrow.

The Elis are in the midst of a streak of their own - just not the kind they'd like. They have been outscored 15-3 over their last three contests, all losses. Throughout the season, they have struggled on both sides of the ball, averaging 1.74 goals scored and 4.24 goals allowed per game.

They have also struggled against Penn. Schlossberg and the Quakers have shut Yale out each of the last two years, 1-0 and 2-0, respectively.

Nevertheless, the Quakers are not expecting an easy victory.

"They beat the two teams that we lost to early in the year: Cornell and Dartmouth," head coach Val Cloud said. "So this is a very good opponent, even if their record isn't such."

Cook agreed, saying that the teams are very similar despite Penn's recent streak.

"They've had their troubles getting the biscuit in the basket as well," Cook said.

The Quakers are looking to continue their newly explosive offense, having scored as many goals over the winning streak as they did over the first 10 games. The main difference, according to Cook, is that they're finally capitalizing on their chances.

Cloud said that the key to tomorrow's game is "to keep the offensive flow going." As for the rest of the season, she thinks her players have something to play for even with the conference all but out of reach.

"There's self-pride," she said. "We look forward to as high a ranking as we can get in the Ivy League. That's our goal."

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