M. Squash | Penn in danger of a 2nd Ivy loss

How badly do they want it?

When the men's squash team plays host to Yale and Brown this weekend, its desire will be put to the test.

The Quakers (0-2, 0-1 Ivy), who remain winless this year after two early-season losses to Cornell and Western Ontario, will look to rebound when they face off against the Bulldogs (0-0) and the Bears (0-1, 0-1) at friendly Ringe Courts this weekend.

Senior Lee Rosen said that for the Quakers to win, they must avoid slipping into the malaise that has overcome them in their previous matches.

"For the [victories] to come, we've just got to want it more than anyone else - that's what it comes down to," he said. "Cornell just wanted it a little bit more than us. We're going to have to be hungrier than everybody else to win."

"We have to get more pumped up," senior Ryan Rayfield said. "We have to get angry and we have to know we can win."

But winning this weekend will be no easy task, especially against the Bulldogs, a perennial Ancient Eight powerhouse that returns 12 upperclassmen.

Penn already fell once to Yale this season. In the contest to determine third and fourth place at the Ivy Scrimmages earlier this month, the Bulldogs dropped a 9-0 decision on the Red and Blue. Three of Yale's top ten players didn't even participate.

Quakers coach Craig Thorpe-Clark knows his team must be ready for a challenge against Yale, but he does not seem particularly concerned about the Bears.

"Both [Penn and Yale] are very deep and pretty even," he said. "It's going to be pretty tough and I expect a fairly long match on Saturday . Brown, in the past, has not been one of the Ivy League powerhouses."

And for the Quakers to contend this weekend, they must overcome some injuries, most notably to sophomore Mark Froot, who has missed significant time due to an iffy back.

After a two-and-a-half-week hiatus, Froot said he now expects to come back at full strength.

"[The injury] should not affect my play," he said. "I've been resting and rehabbing. It feels good and hopefully it will be good for the rest of the season and I won't have to sit out again."

At 0-2, it's about time the Quakers string a few wins together. Thorpe-Clark hopes that a pair of wins this weekend can give his team a foundation to achieve its season goals.

The Quakers pulled off a shocking 6-3 upset of the Bulldogs in Connecticut last year; a similar result tomorrow would be as good a foundation as he could hope for.

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