Season Preview | Forgetting their fifth-place finish

Having won the Ivy League title in 2007, the Penn women's soccer team was nothing short of disappointed with last season's fifth-place finish.

"Last season, I think we were overconfident about what was going to happen," junior midfielder Sarah Friedman said, "and we all came in less fit than we should have."

Because they had not graduated any seniors, the Quakers had high expectations going into 2008. But overtime losses in the last two games of the season to Brown and Princeton erased all possibility of regaining the crown.

"We expected a lot more of ourselves," junior forward Kristin Kaiser said of last year.

Unlike last season, though, the 2009 Quakers have lost seven players to graduation, one of which is three-year captain Natalie Capuano. The former Penn midfielder netted 14 goals during her collegiate career and, along with Kaiser, led the team with five goals last season. The Chester, Pa., native is currently playing professional soccer in Finland.

"We'll miss her on and off the field as a captain and a leader, and also somebody we can look to," Kaiser said.

"Our team has moved on and figured out a new way to play and new people to move in. We're going to be fine."

With all the roster changes, many players are adapting to new roles. The left-footed Kaiser has moved from her former position as a forward to left back, while senior and newly named captain Michelle Drugan will take Kaiser's place as a forward.

"[Drugan] has really shown a knack for [scoring] already just in practice and in the preseason," Kaiser said. "She is going to be really dangerous up top."

Penn has also been experimenting with different formations this preseason. Although the squad has lined up its midfield in a triangle formation in the past, coach Darren Ambrose has tried a four-person midfield this summer.

"No one has any set positions and it's all on the table for freshmen and returning players alike," Kaiser said.

The Quakers enter the 2009 campaign with new assistant coach Abby Shiffler, who was previously an assistant at Caldwell College. A four-year starter in goal for Monmouth, Shiffler will be working with Penn's goalkeepers, leaving more time for Ambrose to focus on the rest of the team.

"Abby can be very hands on with the goalies and really focus on getting them better and getting them ready for games," Kaiser said.

Last year Penn had three goalies earn starts, though Sara Rose got the lion's share (13 out of the team's 17 games).

Penn will host George Mason tomorrow to kick off its season, and plays again Sunday against La Salle at Rhodes Field. Five of its first six games are at home, before the squad faces its first intra-league competition when it travels to Boston to take on Harvard Sept. 26.

But there are some advantages to facing good programs early in the non-conference schedule.

"Playing teams that are strong like Georgetown and Northwestern before we hit the Ivy League will be a huge help to our team and will hopefully, in turn, lead to some success," Kaiser said.

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