Three questions: How will this trio of Penn teams fare against Yale?

Penn teams will have had their fill of competition from Yale after this weekend, as field hockey and both soccer teams will face off against the Bulldogs. Unlike this Saturday's football game, where the Quakers travel to New Haven, Conn., this trio will all play at home.

Can field hockey improve to above .500 in conference play?

Penn field hockey (5-8, 2-2 Ivy) had a couple of tight losses against Columbia and No. 11 Delaware last week, but the team has an opportunity to come away from this weekend with a winning record in Ivy play.

The Quakers will take on a Yale (4-9, 1-3) squad that has stalled near the bottom of the League standings. However, the Bulldogs have won their last two contests, one of which was a 6-0 throttling of Dartmouth. The Red and Blue also beat the Big Green, but it took them extra time to do so.

With just three more conference games remaining, Penn will be playing Saturday's game — as well as the remainder of this stretch — with a sense of urgency.

“We’re hopeful to come out with a win," senior forward and captain Alexa Schneck said. "We want to find a way to win, no matter what it takes; it doesn’t have to be pretty.

“Everything we’ve worked on in practice, we’ve gotten better."

Last season, the Quakers beat Yale 2-0 with goals from the forward duo Schneck and Erin Quinn, who is now a junior. The Red and Blue are hoping for a similar result this time around, which would put them above .500 in conference play.

Will women's soccer hand Yale its first Ivy road loss?

Coming off of a win against Delaware State this past Monday, Penn women’s soccer will return to Rhodes Field this weekend to continue their Ivy play. The Red and Blue (8-4-1, 2-2 Ivy) will compete against Yale (10-3, 3-1).

Last year, the Quakers beat the Bulldogs by a score of 2-1, extending their season's winning streak to five games. This season the Quakers have had decidedly more mixed results, having lost more games already than all of last year.

However, the Red and Blue are confident to face Yale again, and this time at home. 

“We’re in a really good place, we got them at home,” coach Nicole Van Dyke said.

The Quakers gained some wisdom from their win against Delaware State, which will hopefully lead them to success this Saturday. They outshot the Hornets by their biggest margin this season: 22-3.  

“We probably gave up too many fouls in the game that contributed to some free kicks, but we don’t want to give anyone any chances that they don’t deserve,” Van Dyke said. “We felt like this week was about the small details and doing things that one percent better in order to prevent even less opportunities for the opponent.” 

The Bulldogs will hope to continue their three-game winning streak. When they played Cornell last Saturday, they outshot the Big Red 22-2. 

Can men's soccer pull off an upset of the No. 24 Elis?

Coming off an overtime win against 33rd Street rival Drexel, Penn men’s soccer hosts No. 24 Yale at Rhodes Field on Saturday. The Quakers’ conference season has been marginally successful so far; after defeating Cornell in their Ivy opener, the Red and Blue tied Columbia and lost to Dartmouth. 

Junior midfielder Joey Bhangdia and sophomore midfielder Ben Stitz have been especially integral for the Quakers in conference play; between them, they have scored seven points on 13 shots. On the defensive side, junior Alex Touche, freshman Kai Lammers, and senior Casey Barone have anchored a Red and Blue defense that has allowed just one goal per game this season. 

The Elis have impressive nonconference wins this season over Central Connecticut State and UConn, and they are undefeated in Ivy League play. Junior midfielder Mark Winhoffer and senior midfielder Miguel Yuste lead the way for the Bulldogs, having scored 33 combined points this season. Yale will surely prove to be a tough matchup for Penn, who hasn’t beaten a ranked team since 2010.