Not top 10 of 2010

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Yesterday we took a look at the top 10 Penn sports moments in 2010. But we here at The Buzz wouldn't be a fair and balanced news organization if we didn't also remember a few of the lows of the year, so to kick off 2011 we present, in no particular order, the not-top 10.

1: Men's basketball absolutely crushed by No. 7 Duke. Okay, this may have been on Dec. 31, 2009, but we're going to count the 114-55 blowout for this year. It was the worst loss in program history. If it's any consolation for the Quakers, Duke was the eventual national champion. This loss also marked the 9th straight loss to open the 2009-10 season, which made it a program worst start.

2: Ekaterina Kosminskaya calls it quits. This was a sad one for Penn women's tennis. The star senior and former Ivy Rookie and Player of the year had to cut her collegiate career short after finding she had a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder. Though it was a tough loss for the team, there's hope this year in freshman recruit Connie Hsu, who, after a stellar fall season, looks in prime position to be a Rookie of the Year contender, just like Kosminskaya.

3. Women's hoops 2009-10 record of 2-26. Let's call it a rebuilding year for the women's basketball team. After Pat Knapp was fired, Penn brought in the winningest coach in NCAA history, Mike McLaughlin, to take over. But even he couldn't lead the team to more than 2 victories, and only one Ivy win. But already before the beginning of 2011, the Quakers (4-5) have won twice as many games as they did last year and have a talented core of freshman players.

4. Men's hoops 17 point drought in loss to Manhattan. In a game they were favored to win against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's Jaspers, Penn was, in fact, going to win — until the Quakers went silent for the last 8 minutes of the game, allowing Manhattan to finish on an 17-0 run to take the game and hand Penn its first loss of 2010-11.

5. Ace pitcher Jess Lupardus quits softball team. Though the details of her departure still aren't entirely clear, Lupardus, who's pitching carried Penn for three years, left the team along with three other Quakers in the offseason.  Coach Leslie King told The DP it was an "isolated" incident ("If you’re looking to see if there is some kind of underlying problem in our program, you’re barking up the wrong tree," she said), but the players seemed to express different sentiments. Lupardus said she and other players had become "disgruntled", while Diana Ark, one of the players to step down, said "It’s just a lot of issues. And, yeah, it’s kinda messy."

6. Senior Christian Lunoe arrested at Penn-Princeton football game. This one may be only tangentially related to Penn sports, but Lunoe, president of the University's Interfraternity Council, was arrested at the 2010 Penn-Princeton football game in New Jersey for obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct. Lunoe reportedly was uncooperative after security asked him to leave the stadium when he was found to have a "hydration pack with an alcoholic beverage, which was not permitted." He was later released on his own recognizance, but after the incident he resigned from his position in the IFC.

7. Field Hockey goalie dismissed from team with just one more game to play. First year coach Colleen Quinn Fink dismissed backup goalie Kat Muller before the Quakers' final game of the season, evoking animosity among some players, according to Muller, as the team struggled to close out a difficult season (Penn finished 3-14 with a 19-74 goals for/against). "I think it’s really unfair what she’s doing, and my classmates are pissed,” Muller said. “We’ve been having trouble with her the entire season to be honest,” she added. After the season, Fink responded, telling The DP "I made the difficult decision and my staff made the difficult decision that I felt was best for the team and for the program moving forward."

8. Rowers collide with log, lose rudder. During the third annual Nash Challenge, in which the seniors of the men's crew team participate in a 66 mile marathon in one day, the Quakers failed to see an upcoming log in the river. They collided with the lumber, which sheared their rudder off the boat. "We completely lost [the rudder] and had no way to steer,” Nick Barnes said. “We just zig-zagged all the way home." The accident caused a half-hour delay while they got a new skeg.

9. One student's call to end the toast toss. Way back in September, college senior Pranav Merchant wrote an op-ed in the Inquirer questioning the traditional toast at Penn football games on the grounds that it is wasteful. He went as far as to suggest that the tradition makes Penn students look like "spoiled brats." But it turns out the Penn Athletics does much to combat this image, supporting food drives, taking donations for the toast, and on the whole donating more money to food-related charities than is spent on the toast.

10. Glen Miller firing. Some out there probably think this should be on yesterday's top ten list, and they might be right. Glen Miller's firing led to what many think is a generally step up for the team in the last year. But the incident of his sacking itself belongs right here. Mid-season coach firings are the things of the NHL or NFL, not Division I men's basketball.