A poll in which Penn is ranked way ahead of Cornell

Sure the Ivy League champion football season was great. And even if the basketball team is 3-15 at least there's a lot to talk about with the team.

Yet for those of you that know me, the one sport I really get excited for here at Penn is W. Lax. I've covered three runs to the final four, including last year's 13-12 double overtime loss in the national semifinals to archrival Northwestern. I even went to Evanston, Ill., last May for a game in which the Quakers fell 11-9 to the Wildcats. So excuse me if it seems premature to have a post about a team that doesn't start playing for over two and a half weeks.

But as you can see in our special online edition (Snow Day= no paper), the preseason coaches poll was released Tuesday and Penn came in third. But the Quakers will get a chance to prove they're No. 1 when they face No. 2 Maryland and No. 1 Northwestern in back-to-back weeks in early April. Both games will be at Franklin Field, and the two visitors each lost in their last appearance at 33rd and South. In the 2007 NCAA Tournament Penn beat the Terrapins 9-7 to advance to the final four and in 2008 the Wildcats lost 11-7 for the first time in 37 games.

As the article mentions, those aren't the only ranked teams Penn will play. Ivy League rivals Princeton (9), Dartmouth (15) and Cornell (19) were all ranked. And the Quakers will also face No. 4 North Carolina on the road. At the same time, this isn't new. Penn basically plays the same teams every year, though this year Maryland replaces Penn State. So coach Karin Brower Corbett -- she got married in the offseason-- doesn't have an extra hard task compared to past years.

Back in September I predicted the Quakers would win the national championship. I do realize Northwestern's the favorite to six-peat, but they are a young, albeit still very talented, team. (Then again, the last time Northwestern was this young they beat Penn in the NCAA championship game). So just because Penn's third doesn't mean I'll change my prediction. It's been three straight years of Widlcats dispatching Quakers on the final weekend of the season. Is fourth time a charm? Guess we'll have to wait and see.