Field Hockey Season Preview | New starters, big shoes to fill

The fate of the Penn field hockey seaons rests with seven upperclassmen.

Rachel Eng, Christina Ferrier, Meredith Moran, Stephanie Ragg (who also writes for The Daily Pennsylvanian), Kathryn Rose, Kelsey Tahan and Sarah Warner have combined for just seven career goals and 13 assists.

But after eight seniors - comprising 72 percent of the Quakers' 2007 goal output - graduated in May, they have been thrust into the spotlight. They're the new supporting cast for co-captain Margaretha Ehret, the only returning player with double-digit point totals last season.

"In practice, we've been scoring a lot," Moran, the other co-captain, said. "I think given the opportunity, all these people will definitely step up."

Indeed, practice is one of two main things the Quakers have going for them. They participated in a couple of tournaments in the spring and in May, spent 10 days in Argentina, where in between touring and buying leather goods, they found time for four games.

Usually, teams are only permitted one fall preseason scrimmage. But there's an exception for foreign opponents, and after facing Princeton today, Penn takes on a university from England on Sunday.

"They got some experience," coach Val Cloud said. "Is it enough? No. But we're working hard."

The Red and Blue have been working especially hard on fitness, stressing it more than in past years, Ehret and Moran said. Instead of using shuttles for their run tests, the Quakers timed one-mile runs. Players have undertaken additional conditioning workouts after practice. And during the team sessions, drills have focused more on building endurance than perfecting technical nuances.

"We've always had the ingredients to win an Ivy championship," Moran said. "We've always had the talent and the players and all that. I think [fitness is] just one of those things that is in our control that can kind of set us apart."

Cloud added: "They came [back] in very, very good shape. . Now we're trying to get competitively fit. Because you can work out all you want, but once you step on the field, actual playing - the pace of the game and just start, go - is very different than just running on your own."

Last year, the Quakers just missed partial Ivy glory. They lost, 3-1, to Princeton in the season finale; had they won, there would have been a four-way tie atop the league.

That parity is something on which they are hanging their hats. They believe - as, by their own admission, they think every year -that they can win the Ancient Eight. But unlike in past seasons, that's not the focus right now. The grind has taken center stage.

"We're more worried about the day-to-day that will obviously lead up to being Ivy champs," Moran said. "We're more concerned with how to get there right now."

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