Usually, a soccer team forced to rotate three goalkeepers doesn't find much success.
The Quakers, however, allowed just 15 goals in 18 games en route to an Ivy League title last season, all without a bona fide No. 1 woman in net.
"Injuries played a big part in that," coach Darren Ambrose said. "I don't think I can say, 'Yes, I'm going to use this number of goalkeepers.'"
Sara Rose received the most time last year, logging 952 minutes over 11 games. The current junior from Wyckoff, N.J., allowed seven goals, good for a 0.65 goals against average. She also led the Quakers with 27 saves.
Yet two other Quakers saw significant action. Cailly Carroll was second on the team in games played (eight), minutes played (654) and saves (19), while Gina Winters did not allow a goal in 55:29.
"They competed really hard against each other," Ambrose said of the two members of the class of 2010.
This year the Quakers will also have three strong goalkeepers, as freshman Caroline Williams will take the place of Winters, who is out for the year with a torn ACL.
The battle for No. 1 is so tough, in fact, that Ambrose still doesn't know who will start this Friday in the team's opener against Pitt. And he admits that decision won't be set in stone.
"We're fortunate because it was so competitive last year," Ambrose said. "I would fully anticipate that's how this year is going to go. The person who starts Friday might not get the chance to start next weekend. They have to play well because there are two kids behind them."
Parity a reality. Though Penn returns literally everyone from last year's Ivy Championship campaign, the Red and the Blue are not automatically penciled in as winners for the second straight year.
Ambrose foresees Harvard, Yale and Princeton battling with the Quakers throughout the season for the Ivy crown.
In fact, he believes that just about anyone can win the league.
"On any given day anyone can beat the other teams in the league," he said. "There's no clear cut absolute favorite every year. We expect to compete in the top half of the league, but we know we've got our hands full with big games."
Another squad that already knows it can beat Penn is Brown. Last year the Bears sullied Penn's otherwise perfect Ivy League season, handing the Quakers a 1-0 double overtime loss in Providence, R.I.
This year will also be different than last year for the Quakers because everyone will be gunning for the defending champs.
"I think it's something that you can't prepare for," Ambrose said.
"You've got to push harder and raise the bar a little for your team because we know that if we do exactly what we did last year, that might not be quite enough."
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