Sitting together in the men’s basketball locker room, the women’s soccer team tuned into ESPNU at 4:30 yesterday to learn their fate in the 64-team NCAA tournament.
When Penn’s first-round draw was announced, the team let loose a cheer, and coach Darren Ambrose may have even smiled.
Their opponent? Cross-state rivals Penn State.
On Friday in Morgantown, W.Va., the Quakers will face a Nittany Lions squad that lost 1-0 to both Dartmouth and Yale in the regular season. Penn battled the Big Green to a scoreless tie and defeated Yale, 1-0.
The Quakers (9-6-2, 4-1-2 Ivy) also scrimmaged against Penn State (10-8-1) in the spring.
Speaking to his players immediately after the selection show, Ambrose called the game “winnable” and stressed the importance of working hard in practice this week to prepare.
“Penn State is a very good team,” Ambrose said when asked about the matchup. “You probably saw me smile when I saw it, because I’m really good friends with Erica [Walsh, Penn State’s head coach], but it’ll be a great game.”
The last time the Quakers were in the NCAA tournament was 2007, when they fell 2-0 in the first round to James Madison.
“I think it’s a pretty good draw,” said senior back Kaitlin Campbell. “Any team that we were going to [face] is going to be a really good team.”
Penn expects to get a boost in the form of sophomore midfielder Erin Beck. Though she rolled her ankle in practice last Thursday, Beck appears likely to return to the field in time for Friday’s contest.
Senior midfielder Sarah Friedman, who played in every match during the 2007 championship season, says she has more perspective going into this year’s tournament than she did three years ago.
“[In 2007], it was almost good enough to win the Ivy League. With this team, we really have a chance to win our first round game and win our second round game,” she said.
Overcoming injuries and ups and downs to win the Ivy League title, the Quakers have a strong regular season performance behind them.
They’ll look to extend that record on Friday against Penn State.
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