Zach Klitzman | Finals berth almost best ever for Penn

TOWSON, Md.

When I joined the Daily Pennsylvanian sports section two years ago, never did I think I would cover an NCAA national championship game.

And looking at Penn Athletics history, there's no reason I should have thought so.

In the long history of Penn sports, never had a Penn team played in an NCAA-sanctioned championship game of a team sport. Yes the Quakers have won four NCAA team titles in fencing (three on the men's side, and one on the women's), yet until the NCAA changes its fencing rules and allows for 5-on-5 Battle Royales, fencing is not a purely team sport.

And although the women's squash program won the Howe Cup in 2000, that doesn't count because men's and women's squash aren't officially sanctioned NCAA sports.

But only two years into the job, the seemingly impossible happened: a Penn sports team made it to an NCAA final, as the women's lacrosse team advanced to Sunday night's championship game.

Although the Quakers did end up falling to Northwestern 10-6, the feat of making it to a national championship game is without a doubt the top athletic achievement a Penn squad has accomplished in my time here.

Let's face it, this year - and to some extent last year - were disappointments for Penn Athletics. The football team has gone a mediocre 9-11, 6-8 Ivy and while the men's basketball team did make it to the NCAA tournament last year, it turned around and had its first losing season since 2000-01 this year. Other programs had similarly underwhelming results, such as women's basketball and men's lacrosse.

In fact, in all the NCAA team sports, only one Penn team has truly been great the last two years: the women's lacrosse team. Over the past two seasons the Quakers have gone a remarkable 33-4, the best two-year mark in the program history.

There's little question that this game was the biggest event in my short time at Penn. But how does this game situate in terms of the biggest Penn Athletic events of all-time?

Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky clearly thinks it's important. I actually rode in the elevator up to the press box before the championship game with Bilsky. In response to my comment that it was "a pretty big game today, huh?" he said "Yeah, it only happens once every 100 years."

I'd agree with Bilsky that the championship game appearance was extremely important to Penn Athletics history. But to be honest, I would have to rank the men's basketball 1979 Final Four appearance ahead. That game gave more exposure to the University than Sunday's game did, and that run to Salt Lake City also saw Penn give North Carolina its only loss to date in the Tar Heel State during March Madness.

Looks like the lady laxers come in second (yet again). But that ain't too shabby for an athletics program that dates back to the late 19th century.

Zach Klitzman is a rising-junior and history major from Bethesda, Md. His e-mail address is klitzman@dailypennsylvanian.com

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