Last week’s predictions were mostly on the mark. Connor Loftus got “up” from his 21-yard miss at Yale to kick the game-winner against Brown and Penn’s tight ends stayed “up” and caught four receptions for 44 yards as quarterback Billy Ragone continued to spread the wealth from the pocket, hitting seven different receivers.
But Penn didn’t get behind in the early going, holding Brown’s potent first-half offense to just a field goal before halftime. So who’s up and who’s down on Saturday against Princeton?
Three up —
Conner Scott: After disappearing in the second half against Brown, expect to hear Scott’s number called more consistently at Princeton, which boasts the second-worst passing defense in the Ivy League. Scott abused two-time first-team All-Ivy Brown cornerback A.J. Cruz early and often last week, so he can make any defensive backfield look silly, let alone Princeton’s.
Jeff Jack: After rushing the ball less than both Ragone and Lyle Marsh for the first time all season last week, expect Jack to literally carry more of the load on Saturday. Jack looked good last week against the Ivy League’s second-ranked rushing defense, averaging 5.2 yards per carry against the Bears. Look for Marsh to be used more as a receiver to mitigate Princeton’s fearsome pass rush and exploit the Tigers’ suspect pass defense, leaving the ground game to Jack.
Dave Twamley: Twamley led the Quakers with nine tackles last week and has been a ballhawk all season, surpassed in total tackles this season by only fellow defensive back Sebastian Jaskowski. Expect Twamley to cause problems for Princeton quarterback Connor Michelsen, who has thrown three picks in the last two games.
Three Down —
Billy Ragone: As in down on the ground. Even while giving up exactly 1,200 total offensive yards and 71 points to Harvard and Cornell in their last two games, the Tigers still registered five sacks for 50 yards in both contests combined. Princeton comes in ranked second among Ivies in sacks and third in rushing defense by a wide margin. So whether running or passing, Ragone may find himself on the ground quickly on Saturday.
Run defense: Penn stifled Brown up front last week, allowing just five rushing first downs and 3.6 yards per carry on 23 attempts. The Quakers won’t be so successful against the Tigers, who lead the Ivy League in rushing attempts and average 151 yards per game. Princeton’s wide variety of ball carriers will do their best to pummel Penn into submission as the game progresses. They should succeed against a defensive front that got gashed on the ground by Columbia and Yale earlier this season.
Kickoff coverage: While the Quakers’ kickoff coverage unit held Brown in check last week, Princeton freshman kick returner Anthony Gaffney comfortably leads all Ivies in kick return average at 27.2 yards per game. Expect the lightning-quick Gaffney to have a solid showing against a fifth-ranked Penn kickoff coverage unit among all Ivies.
We’re excited to bring to you Penn Sports Plus, a new Buzz feature that spotlights people in the Penn Sports scene who don’t usually get much attention. No current Penn athletics players or coaches will be featured in Penn Sports Plus, so we’ll have plenty of space for the unsung athletes and athletic workers at Penn.
This week, we feature the Penn Judo Club, with sophomore president Harry Robinson taking us down to the mat.
How did you get the Judo Club back up and running on campus?
Robinson: Well, the first thing I did was hold elections, which was interesting because I was the only member of the club at the beginning of the year. So for a while I was the official President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the club, which was pretty interesting. The first thing I had to do was find someone who was actually willing to teach, I'm not skilled enough to actually instruct, so I talked to my Sensei from where I used to do Judo in Bryn Mawr, P.A., he got someone he knew who was teaching at Drexel Judo Club to come to Penn a couple of days a week to teach us... after that it was just a matter of finding people to show up.
So how did you get people to actually sign up and join the club?
Robinson: So mostly I just bothered people around me to show up to judo and see how much fun it was. We had about a 50% retention rate, so half the people who showed up to the first practice wouldn't show up again. But that meant that half the people I managed to pester into going once would actually stay. So I got, six people, seven people, that way, and they got some friends to show up, and by the middle of the first semester, we had a solid dozen, fifteen people at every practice.
What were competitions like last year?
Robinson: No one else really had that much experience, so we'd go to competitions, and mostly it'd be just a learning curve for people who hadn't done matches before. It's pretty different between practice and matches, and just getting the feel for it, it's great experience. So for the most part, I'd win some matches, the other black belt would win some matches, and no one else would win. At least at first. It started changing after a while. Especially people with wrestling experience, jiu-jitsu experience. They learned a lot faster.
What's the outlook of the club for this year?
Robinson: This year, we've had a lot more trouble getting practices going. We used to have practice in Hutchinson, where we had all the space we wanted at any time. They closed it for renovations, and we got kicked out because of the asbestos, so now we're kind of in Pottruck. You know, we don't have much space, but we can expand some more once we have some more attendance.
Penn field hockey shuts out Brown, 2-0October 31, 2004
For the last time in recent history, Penn field hockey won the Ivy League title. Well, they ended up sharing it with Harvard.
Though the title was clinched a week later in a win over Princeton, a shutout of Brown on Halloween of 2004 was key in getting the Quakers the championship.
The 2-0 win was their sixth shutout in a row (a school record), their eighth shutout of the season and their seventh win in a row.
The mediocre Bears, who came into the game 5-9 overall, 2-4 in Ivy play, were unable to keep up with this Quakers team.
Penn scored a goal in each half and allowed only one shot on goal, which did not find the back of the cage. The Red and Blue had eight shot attempts that game.
The two goals came from seniors Liz Lorelli — a first-team All-Ivy selection in her junior and senior campaigns — and Jessica Kaylor.
The Quakers got started early in this contest.
The first goal came only nine minutes into the first half on a shot from Kaylor.
Toward the end of the second half, Lorrelli knocked a shot into the back of the net on a pass from junior midfielder Lea Salese.
The Red and Blue were just one step away from the title and ultimately finished the season 13-4, 6-1 Ivy.
As was anticipated in this space two weeks ago, Penn women's soccer has a chance to win a share of the Ivy League title in the season finale against Princeton. In a game that has no lack of compelling story lines, a central one will be the age-old question: Is it defense or offense that wins championships?
The Tigers have the Ivy League’s top-ranked attack, averaging 2.81 goals per game. They are led by senior forward Jen Hoy, who is having a historic season. Hoy, who hails from the suburbs of Philadelphia, has 17 goals in 16 games this season. Even if she ends the season without another goal, she will stand sixth all-time in the Ivy League for goals in a single season.
The Quakers, meanwhile, have the Ancient Eight’s top defense, yielding only 0.78 goals per game. Penn’s stalwart defense is the result of a strong collective effort. Not only do the Quakers keep opponents out of the net, but they've also allowed starting goalkeeper Sarah Banks to make the second fewest saves in the league.
The magic number here is two. Over the last two seasons, the Quakers have gone 10-0-1 when they have held their opponents under two goals. But the Tigers have not been held under two goals since a three-game non-conference stretch back in September. Something will have to give between this clash of titans.
While the fans that came early for Penn men's basketball season tickets saw a strong offensive performance Saturday, the Quakers still have room for improvement.
After the team came outside Saturday morning to thank fans in The Line waiting for season tickets, they put on a three point show for the first scrimmage of the year. The game featured a plethora of three pointers from junior captain Dau Jok and sophomore Patrick Lewis-Perry, along with head coach Jerome Allen working a double shift as he also took over as referee for the 20 minute scrimmage. The scrimmage ended with a close 39-37 finish that resulted in a victory for the Miles Cartwright-led blue team.
The opposing team was led by Jok, who drained six three pointers, including four in the first five minutes of the second half. With only one senior on the team, Jok, Cartwright and fellow junior Fran Dougherty have taken over as captains this season. However, despite his quality offensive performance, Jok critiqued his own leadership and the team’s defensive action.
“I wouldn’t say we played well at all because defensively we gave up a combined 80 points, which is a lot. We are a team that is predicated on defense and to win we have to play defense,” Jok said. “In terms of the leadership, we just try to get guys' encouragement but I think we have a lot of work to do.”
After getting just 37 minutes of playing time last season, Jok is expected to take on a larger role this season. Saturday, he displayed his solid jump shot that should be a large part of the Quakers offense this year.
“We have a lot of weapons. Everyone is starting to know what their roles are,” Jok said. “My role is not to go between my legs and create for other people, but to help the team the best I know how.”
The other two team captains, Cartwright and Dougherty, led the blue team. Cartwright ran the point for his side, displaying adept passing the entire game. Cartwright handled the ball to end the first half, making a skilled pass to an open Patrick Lucas-Perry, who missed the attempt. Dougherty displayed a strong presence inside the paint for the blue team. However, he thought his performance as captain, along with Cartwright and Jok, can improve.
“I think we did more with leading by example and I think we need to be more player-coaches out there,” Daugherty said. “There are a lot of young guys out there and we need to help coach them through some emotions that they may not be used to out there."
One of those young guys is sophomore forward Greg Louis, who scored five early points before displaying a strong passing game in the second half. One of the best plays of the game was a Louis pass from the top of the key that squeezed past two defenders for an easy layup for freshman Darien Nelson-Henry. Louis’s game ended on a sour note, however, with a late pass going for a turnover while missing a potential game-winning three to end the game. Despite the ending, Louis looked impressive coming back after missing his freshman year due to injury.
Senior Larry Lougherty did not receive the chance to shine coming out of a season lost to injury. The lone senior is a question mark for the Red and Blue, as he has not played in a game since January of his sophomore year. What the Quakers get out of the 6-foot-6 forward remains to be seen.
The main thing that coach Allen took away from the game was the lack of execution defensively, echoing comments from Jok and Dougherty. While the fans may have been entertained by the barrage of three pointers, Allen was thoroughly disappointed in what that meant defensively.
“Two weeks is our first game but I wish we had more time. I think we need a lot of work on the defensive end. The reality, if the cup is half full or half empty, is that there is nothing in the cup at all from a defensive standpoint,” Allen said. “We gave up roughly 40 points for a half. That’s 80 in a game and we’re not that good to play games in the 80s and expect to win.
The Quakers basketball team took the court for the first time this season Saturday morning with an opponent they know very well — themselves. The scrimmage featured 11 of the 16 players on the roster with Steve Rennard, Jamal Lewis, Simeon Esprit, Keelan Cairns and Larry Lougherty sitting out.
Three of the four freshman participated in today's game. Darien Nelson-Henry saw time at center and played well defensively and added six points and a handful of rebounds as well. Tony Hicks started for the white team alongside Nelson-Henry and had six points with a handful of assists and a couple of rebounds.
However, as coach Jerome Allen later admitted, the most impressive performance belonged to Julian Harrell. Although Harrell showed up on the stat sheet fewer times than his classmates, his hustle and defensive play earned his coach's respect. The focus for this team will be defense, and with a number of good shooters and good guards, those who can defend will see the most time on the court.
Brown comes to Franklin Field after a big win over Cornell last weekend, while the Quakers are coming off their first Ivy loss of the season and have no room for error if they hope to stay in the Ivy title race. Follow all the action here:
The M. Hoops season is officially underway today with the annual red and blue scrimmage. Follow along with Steven Tydings and Nick Greiner — they'll be evaluating who steps up on the floor to replace lost seniors, how players like Larry Loughery and Greg Louis, who we hardly saw last year, look and what the crop of four freshman can do.
With just two weeks remaining in the Ivy League women's soccer schedule, three teams are in the hunt for an Ivy title, which has stimulated discussion about how a potential three-way tie between the top teams for first place might shake out. Of course, not only is an Ivy League championship on the line, but also an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
So here's the scenario: if Dartmouth and Penn win out, including the Quakers taking out Princeton on the road on Nov. 3, and Princeton doesn't get upset by Cornell this weekend, then all three teams would finish the season 6-1. Looking at head-to-head wins can't be used to break the tie, since Princeton beat Dartmouth, Dartmouth beat Penn and Penn will have defeated Princeton.
What, then, will decide the fate of the Ivy title and the tourney bid? Well, the championship will simply be shared by all three teams. There is some historical precedence for this — in fact, the same three teams shared the title in 2001, oddly enough.
The NCAA tournament bid, however, is an entirely different story. After a season of hard fought matches and competitive games, the Ivy League would decide which team represents the conference in the NCAA tournament by, drumroll please, pulling a team's name out of a hat.
No, that is not a joke. According to Trevor Rutledge-Leverenz, a representative from the Ivy League, Executive Director Robin Harris would draw a team's name out of a hat to determine which squad receives the tournament bid.
If it's any consolation (though I'm not sure it would be to the other two teams), Rutledge-Leverenz added that the name-drawing would be broadcasted live online.
Let us know what you think about the Ivy League's tie-breaking process in the comments below. We will provide updates on this story as they come in.
Last week’s predictions were hit or miss — Billy Ragone struggled more than I expected against Yale’s bottom-ranked scoring defense among Ivies. But I did call the Bulldogs’ gashing of Penn’s defensive front. Ultimately, though, I would never have guessed that the egg that the Quakers laid at the Yale Bowl would be as big as it was. So who’s up and who’s down against Brown?
Three Up —
Tight ends: In Joe Holder's absence and with Cameron Countryman not a safe bet just yet, tight ends Ryan Allen and Mitch King have been stepping up when needed as secondary targets for Ragone and Holland. King's 32-yard reception in the second quarter from Penn's own 10-yard line jumpstarted an 8-play, 89-yard drive that gave the Quakers their only touchdown of the game last week, and both TEs combined for three catches for 41 yards against Columbia. Brown will undoubtedly match two-time first-team All-Ivy cornerback A.J. Cruz up with Conner Scott, and that should make for quite a battle. Look for Penn's QBs to continue to look to King and Allen to exploit the rest of Brown's average secondary.
Dan Davis: Davis led all Quakers at Yale with 10 tackles and showed flashes of impressive pursuit in both run and pass blitz situations. Still, his grasp of Penn's complex defensive schemes isn't quite where it needs to be per linebackers coach Dan Wood in this week's Penn Football Weekly. Davis embodies the rest of the defense in that he has great athleticism, potential, and versatility (playing 11 different positions in high school), but he still isn't experienced enough to be great. Nevertheless, look for him to be a ballhawk Saturday.
Connor Loftus: Because there's nowhere to go but up after missing a 21-yard field goal on the Quakers' second possession that set the tone for Penn's offensive futility all afternoon long. Penn still ranks second among Ivies in field goal percentage (behind only Brown), so count on Loftus to have a solid game once again.
Three Down —
Run defense: This one's obvious. Brown running back Jordan Reisner gouged Cornell for 193 yards on the ground last week and Penn comes in after giving up 203 rushing yards to an admittedly powerful Yale rushing attack. Still, Brown can run it better than Penn can stop it.
The early going: Brown has scored a touchdown on either its first or second possession in all but two of six games this season, getting six on its very first possession three times. Brown is used to fast starts and Penn is used to giving up fast starts. That shouldn't change tomorrow.
Jeff Jack: Jack has been asked to carry the load on behalf of the entire Stable at times this season, and he's understandably struggled often. Penn's rushing game was stifled by Columbia and failed to come through at key moments at Yale. Meanwhile, Brown comes in with the Ancient Eight's second-ranked rushing defense, allowing just 96.5 yards per game on the ground. Don't expect Jack to shine this Saturday.
The slow starts offensively and inability to stop opposing passers finally caught up to Penn football last Saturday, when the team dropped its first Ivy contest to Yale, 27-13, in New Haven (see story). The Quakers will have a chance to redeem themselves this Homecoming weekend against Brown at Franklin Field, but can they? Senior Sports Editor Megan Soisson and football writer Karl Bagherzadeh give you their take:
On the dawn of Homecoming, many alums will be making their way back to our neck of the woods and reliving their Penn memories. There's no doubt Penn has changed over the years, and the same goes for the sports culture. Leading up to the matchup against Brown this Saturday, we take a look back at a few vintage programs from some of the good ol' days of Penn football.
The Quakers shutout the Bears, 50-0, in this 1945 matchup (left).
Below is the Penn season program from '06 — 1906 that is.
Penn rendered Brown scoreless in this late October 1961 game:
The Quakers are tied with Harvard for third place in the Ivy League Standings, one game behind Princeton and three games behind undefeated defending champion Yale. Now beginning its second pass through the Ivy gauntlet, Penn not only must win but has to do what all teams hate doing: Hope its opponents will lose.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to be a very realistic proposal. Not only has Yale yet to lose a single game to an Ivy opponent, they have only lost two sets in the Ivy season — one to Brown and one to Dartmouth, the two teams tied for last place in the Ivy League rankings. The Bulldogs are opportunistic and excel against competitive teams that have given them problems in the past, like Princeton. Their offense thrives, even against strong defensive back rows like Penn, and is ranked third in the nation in both kills and assists per set.
Being atop the Ivy League standings isn’t a new feeling for Yale either. When Penn took the Ivy League in 2010, it had to defeat Yale in a five-set playoff. This is not a team that gives up easy and certainly not one that will let an Ivy Championship slip through its fingers.
Then again, neither is Penn. After a fifth-place finish last year, this season can begin to set the stage for the resurgence of Penn’s historically successful volleyball program (coach Kerry Carr is the winningest coach in program history). A win against the Crimson this weekend will be essential in differentiating Penn from playing at an average level to becoming one of the top three competitors in the league.
After their performance against Princeton and their tough 3-2 loss to Harvard in September, the Quakers should put away Harvard this time, which will give them sole ownership over the third-place spot. A win against Yale on Nov. 2 could mark their first win against the Bulldogs since their Ivy League championship season in 2010, but based on Yale’s 3-0 win earlier this season, this seems unlikely.
Though it may be too little, too late for the Quakers this season, a strong second half can show that this still-young team will be in a position to really contend next year.
This week I talked in-depth with Penn Cycling co-President and senior Colby Samstag and learned everything you need to know about Penn Cycling. I also got plenty of extra insight from Samstag about Lance Armstrong's fall from grace and what it means for the future of cycling:
Who does Penn Cycling consist of?
We have about 50 undergrad and grad students and it’s basically for anyone who likes riding a bike. We have a club aspect to it that’s for people who want to go on rides and want to have access to resources. But then we also have a dedicated race team within the club. And we focus on road racing. The collegiate road season is in the spring and we have about nine race weekends, men and women, undergrads, grad. Just road races for the most part.
What does Penn Cycling do in the fall?
Mostly cycling is offseason, so we do get-togethers, have group rides, we have rides that individuals can post on our listserv. Training for the next season doesn’t start until November/December. So fall is just slower group rides to build base fitness up. As soon as the new year starts we have indoor classes at our sponsor shop where you’re on a CompuTrainer so you have an indoor trainer that measures your wattage output. We have a coach that gives each person what they’re supposed to do for that day.
What’s the difference between road and track racing?
Track racing is you go in a circle, there’s different types of events and different distances, but they all focus around going in a circle and being a strong sprinter so normally track guys are these big huge hulking guys who are good at sprinting. There are two different types of road races. One is called a criterium, which is 30-90 minutes, and that’s like a small loop. Last year we had one on Temple’s campus and that’s just like a square track, again for the sprinters, the big hulking guys. But then true road races are gonna be by the mile. A 'D' race might be 13 miles but an 'A' race might be close to 100 miles. Road races are usually more endurance-based and determined by how you can do on the hills. There are more places you can mess up.
Do you prefer road racing over track racing?
Road racing I find more interesting because it’s longer. I do rides out to Paoli and Conshohocken every weekend and you get to see more and experience more. You get to burn 3,000 calories that you could eat more.
I’m a small guy. I’m what they call a climber. I focus on hills. I thrive on the longer steep hills, like in Pittsburgh [where Samstag is from]. I’m 125 pounds and almost 5-foot-11 so I’m a skinny guy.
Does Penn Cycling do track races in addition to road races?
We have but this year we’ve just been focusing on roads. It really depends year to year on what the contingency is. We have some people that ride mountain bikes but we haven’t done any mountain biking this year. We might do a few races called Cyclocross where it’s like this crazy European sport where you jump over barriers and jump on your bike and ride through the dirt. So we’ve had a bunch of people do that in the past but this year the contingency seems like it’s mostly gonna be road racers.
How did Penn Cycling do last year?
Last year was kind of a rough year. It was a tough year for Penn Cycling. The year before last we actually did really well. We had someone on the podium at Nationals, and he became a pro last year. We’re getting a lot more members this year who want to race.
Max Korus went pro—he went on to win Elite National Championship, for elite racers that are non-pro so he got a pro contract after that. He got a National Champion’s bike and jersey and everything. And now he rides professionally. Last year he rode professionally for Team Kenda. He hadn’t ever ridden a bike, never raced a bike before his sophomore year here and then he became a pro right after graduating.
When does road racing begin?
Road racing starts the first week of March. There’s sometimes still snow on the ground in our races. We had one in Troy, N.Y., one year where we stood out the night before our race and there was six feet of snow on parts of the ground. So you have to instill people with the will to do this early on because if you don’t get people riding in this kind of weather and have a lot of group rides and stuff now it’s hard to get participation when the weather sucks.
Where does the gear, bikes and clothing for members come from?
Clothing is subsidized by the team. We provide all the transportation, race fees, hotels, everything directly race-related. They don’t have to pay anything at all out of pocket for their license, for any of the races. But we do make them pay for their equipment. We have club sponsors that we get discounts from the bike shop, and we give subsidies for clothes. Also we have a team sponsor for our bikes that we can get 30 percent off of bikes from. We can’t give free bikes or free clothes. Cycling is an expensive sport but we make as affordable as we possibly can. We have a pretty good fee allotment and sponsors that take care of us, so we make it way more accessible than what cycling could ever be in a non-collegiate setting. Every student probably spends $200 from our budget as far as race fees and travel that we all subsidize.
What is Penn Cycling's schedule like?
We don’t impose schedules on people. Pretty much every day someone will host a ride. There’s also lots of rides around Philadelphia that we all do. I did a ride tonight on a ride through Fairmount Park. It’s park-looped and meets every Tuesday and Thursday. I want to say we had four members that showed up tonight out of the eight members that do it in general. We don’t have a strict schedule but we encourage teamwork and teach basic training principles. So I tell people how they should be training at any given time. It’s really on an individual basis because it’s hard for an A racer to train with a D racer in the middle of the season just because there’s such a discrepancy of skill level. So we try to pair people up who have similar skill levels and have them ride together. We always encourage group rides.
How people train and how involved they want to be is up to them. There are ‘A’ racers and ‘B’ racers and beginners and we don’t want to force people above their level. But we encourage them to do the best they can.
What organization is Penn Cycling affiliated with?
We’re part of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC). It’s actually one of the hardest conferences. When it comes to getting spots for nationals we get one of the highest allotments because we’re so competitive nationally.
What’s your reaction to the stripping of Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France titles?
He did it. It was endemic in the sport at the time. People are focusing on Lance only because he’s such a bully and kind of silenced everyone that opposed him. Almost everyone at the top level of the sport did it. I think it’s a shame but I’m not surprised by it. I do want to believe that’s it gotten a lot cleaner since then and will continue to do so as a result.
I used to say [he cheated] years and years ago and people would argue with me. It’s not shocking, it’s just sad that it happened.
How much of a problem is the fact that cycling’s greatest public figure is suddenly a negative for the sport?
I’d like to think that people will ultimately see that’s it’s been cleaned up a lot since then. One of the measures you can use to see how EPO and blood transfusions and all those things. You can look at the times of the climbs in the Tour de France that they’ve had for the last 100 years. You can see how long it takes for them to go up some of these mountains and you can see a drastic decrease in those times when they were all taking EPO, the main drug they took and human growth hormone and all those things they were taking.
But now the times have gone way back up and people are saying that’s because people aren’t doping now. So it’s taking them longer again and there’s been a big massive shift in how people within the sport perceive doping. At the time it was just accepted but now you can see a lot of effort and people who do it are actually getting shunned. There’s a concerted effort to change it.
I would hope it wouldn’t stop someone from getting involved in the sport because I’d like to believe that it’s changed enough. We’re talking about 10 years ago, you know? He didn’t even have an EPO test when he was originally doing it. Like VO2 max and threshold power, EPO can boost those so much it’s unbelievable. Because what you’re doing is increasing your red blood count. It’s the same thing with blood doping.
So the years people were allowed to do it without any consequence, it created that atmosphere. I’d like to think it’s subsiding in part due to this because people are coming forward saying, ‘Look, I did it too. Lance did it, I did it. The whole team did it, all the doctors provided us with drugs.’
What do you think of the argument saying that Armstrong still won competing a level playing field because everyone was cheating?
It’s a myth because everyone responds differently to these drugs. He had the best doctors, he had the best trainers. He had the best doctors in the industry that people couldn’t afford that gave him all of these drugs. I don’t think it was a level playing field. I don’t think he was just the best doping athlete among doping athletes. I think that’s a myth. I think that he was a cheat and you’ve got to look at the context – he did it but it’s still hard to disentangle what was right and wrong in that era.
Give me your best pitch for joining Penn Cycling.
If you like to ride a bicycle, we have something for you. We have everything from ice cream rides where we’ll go out and get ice cream and just ride really slow and we have racers that are winning races every now and then. I just think that if you like bicycles and you wanna meet other people with the same interests, you can do it here. We encourage any riding of bikes basically, competitive if you can, but if not that’s fine too.
What’s your favorite Penn Cycling memory?
I don’t know if I have just one. There’s been some great races in my four years of racing. I didn’t come to Penn expecting to race. I had a non-roadbike and I wanted to join the club and see if it was fun and now I’m riding multiple days a week. It’s just an encouraging group of people.
What’s your favorite Penn athletics memory?
I like [Penn Associate Director of Structured Sport] Mike Reno a lot. I feel like he’s really honest and easy to talk to. I don’t know if that’s a memory but I think he makes the sports club committee meetings a lot easier than they would be under someone else’s rule.
It's time to start looking ahead to basketball season.
In his ten-minute slot on the annual Ivy League preseason basketball teleconference, Jerome Allen talked impressive freshman, major senior losses and coaching staff changes, but the buzzword of the day was "depth."
"We'll be a much deeper team coming off the bench this year," Allen said. "We have size, athleticism and drive that I haven't seen since my first year here."
Allen cited the four freshman as a major part of that depth and drive.
"All four of them are proud to wear the Penn jersey," he said.
Allen didn't dwell on the loss of impact seniors like Zack Rosen, Tyler Bernardini and Rob Belcore, but instead stressed the opportunities for players like Miles Cartwright to step up and make a statement for themselves.
"I'm not asking Miles to step up and be the next Zack. I'm asking him to step up and be the next Miles," Allen said.
Finally, Allen talked coaching staff changes, wishing former Penn assistant Mike Martin all the best at Brown and expressing his excitement about his new assistants Ira Bowman, Scott Pera and Jason Polykoff.
The Quakers, according to Allen, have everything going for them this year--they'll just need to "put it all together, and let the chips fall where they may"
This weekend, the Penn field hockey team will be fighting two battles.
If you head to Franklin Field this Sunday at noon, you’ll see the Quakers sporting gold on their uniforms as they take on Brown. The Quakers are raising awareness for osteogenic sarcoma, a high-grade type of bone cancer, and honoring ex-captain Kate Gray, who is recovering since being diagnosed with the disease — read her letter about her fight here.
Gray graduated from the nursing school in 2005 and captained Penn's last Ivy League championship team in 2004.
If you show up, you can also help the Red and Blue’s cause by donating money to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for sarcoma research.
A Hiccup on the Way to the Title: Brown slides by Penn, 58-51October 24, 1998
Similar to last Saturday's Harvard-Princeton matchup, the Quakers had a big fourth quarter in this high-scoring game, but unlike the Tigers, the Red and Blue were unable to finish the job.
Jim Finn, later to win the title of "Mr. Irrelevant" in the 1999 NFL Draft, only to go on to play seven years as a punishing blocking fullback, set an all-time Penn record at Brown when he rushed for six touchdowns against the Bears, but it was not enough.
In a wild fourth quarter, Brown outscored the Quakers, 30-28, and scored the winning touchdown with only four seconds remaining.
What made it so disappointing was that Finn had just run for a 5-yard touchdown run to tie it up only 40 seconds earlier.
Finn ran for 259 yards on the day, second all time for Penn (behind Terrance Stokes in 1993). He made it look so easy that “on one touchdown run in the fourth quarter, he would have scored even if it had been a game of two-hand touch,” the DP wrote.
In front of the crowd of 4,438, Finn scored four touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, but it was not enough. Brown simply was unstoppable through the air. Quarterback James Perry, who had "enough time in the pocket to survey the field, study for a midterm and throw a picnic," threw for 470 yards and a remarkable six touchdowns, four of which came in the final frame.
Despite the loss, Penn won the Ancient Eight title outright with a 6-1 Ivy record and 8-2 overall. It was the third title for Al Bagnoli and a remarkable turnaround from the 1997 season, in which Penn forfeited five games due to the ineligibility of Mitch Marrow in a forgettable 1-9 campaign.
We all know you've had ample football coverage this weekend, but what about the members of the Red and Blue playing at venues other than the Yale Bowl? For recaps of Penn's other squads, look no further than this week's edition of "Weekend Wrap."
Volleyball
The volleyball team began the second half of its conference schedule with a dramatic victory over Princeton on the road, battling back from two sets down to win, 3-2. While Penn (10-9, 5-3 Ivy) will need the Tigers and the Bulldogs to lose some matches to give it a chance at an Ivy title, this weekend’s performance could be a major turning point for this relatively young squad.
Men's Soccer
Playing on the road, the Quakers’ struggles continued, and the team lost to a lackluster Yale squad, 2-1. Without an Ivy win to its name, this Red and Blue team is hard pressed to find a silver lining to this season’s performance. That said, Penn (2-11, 0-4) could make some noise in the Ivy League by upsetting first-place Brown next weekend.
Women's Soccer
Though this team has walked on a knife’s edge at times this season, the Penn women’s soccer squad has a legitimate shot at an Ivy title, and the team made progress toward that goal by defeating Yale, 2-0, in New Haven. It was just the third road victory for the Quakers (8-5-1, 4-1) against the Bulldogs in program history, and the first time in four games that the Red and Blue have put up multiple goals in a game. These are auspicious signs for the team as it enters its final two matches of the season, including a hotly anticipated showdown with league-leading Princeton on Nov. 3.
Field Hockey
A 3-2 victory on the road over Yale keeps Penn field hockey on pace to improve upon last year’s 2-5 Ivy League record, not to mention out of last place. The game ball (is that a thing in field hockey?) undoubtedly goes to junior captain Julie Tahan, who assisted two scores before adding the game-winner herself. The following day, the Quakers (7-7, 2-3) dropped a contest against Fairfield, 4-2. While coaches and players will give you a line about why momentum’s important, the fact of the matter is that the Ivy slate is what counts, so if you’re going to split for the weekend, the Red and Blue did it right.
I'm here with Karl Bagherzadeh enjoying a beautiful fall day in New Haven, Conn. We had a great drive up this morning and the weather could not be more perfect for some football. Penn (2-3, 2-0 Ivy) takes on Yale (1-4, 0-2)
The team needed all 60 minutes, but Penn football escaped last Saturday with a 24-20 win over Columbia at Franklin Field (see story). All three of the Quakers' touchdowns came in the second half. On this week's edition, I sit down with Associate Sports Editor Mike Tony to discuss Penn's slow starts and preview the next game at Yale:
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