Now the hard part begins.
After cruising through its first seven games with only a single hitch - a road loss to Northwestern - the Penn women's lacrosse team will begin the most difficult part of its schedule tonight when it travels to Baltimore to face dangerous No. 13 Johns Hopkins.
The No. 16 Quakers (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) are coming off of an impressive home stand, in which they topped league rival Cornell for the first time in three years in addition to defeating Yale and Delaware.
Yet having played all but one of its contests in Philadelphia so far against decidedly weaker opponents, Penn will be in for what the team says will be its toughest test to date when it visits the Blue Jays (5-3) tonight.
Even so, Penn's recent success on both ends of the field has given the team plenty of confidence heading into the difficult stretch.
Even though the Quakers fell 12-9 to Hopkins last season at Franklin Field, Penn played well against the Blue Jays. The Red and Blue dominated the draw controls and recorded more than twice as many shots as Hopkins.
As a result, coach Karin Brower stressed that the Quakers have been heavily anticipating the rematch.
"We should have won last year, and we didn't," she said.
Still, Brower is well aware of the threat that the Blue Jays pose, especially on their home field.
"Hopkins is a huge challenge because they're a very strong team," she said.
Nonetheless, senior Chrissy Muller pointed out that the Quakers' early-season slate of home games has given them an interesting advantage over their opponents.
According to Muller, Franklin Field is bigger than most of the fields on which Penn competes away from home, giving the team an important edge with respect to endurance.
"We're in a lot better shape than a lot of other teams," she said.
And the Quakers will have to use every drop of their energy to counter a very talented Hopkins team that has already tested itself against some of the top teams in the nation, including Georgetown, Maryland and Princeton.
The Blue Jays are led by senior attacker Mary Key, who broke three school records in Hopkins's most recent thrashing - of then-No. 20 Oregon, by a 20-4 margin.
In fact, Hopkins is averaging nearly 14 goals per game, while Penn averages just fewer than 12.
The Quakers' real advantage is on defense, as they have surrendered a paltry 6.71 goals per game, compared to Hopkins average of 10.57.
Stellar goalkeeping on the part of Penn's Sarah Waxman has solidified the Quakers' backfield, playing a pivotal role in the their early run.
Though Penn doesn't have another home game until the middle of April, it will still get a shot at the Ivy League frontrunners - No. 10 Princeton, No. 8 Dartmouth and No. 17 Yale - in the friendly confines of Franklin Field. The Quakers played those three teams on the road last season.
