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(09/21/94 9:00am)
The tiny ball goes scuttling half the length of the field and comes to rest on the stick of Penn defender Rani Bajwa, its sender as much a blur as the white projectile she has just dead stopped. Bajwa has seen a blast like that before. She's been stopping them for years. It has to be Sally Wharton. Wharton and Bajwa have enjoyed a friendly rivalry dating back to high school in Washington, when Bajwa was a star at Sidwell Friends and Wharton was rattling cages at Fultonheim. The two have found themselves at odds again in college, with Wharton keying Lafayette's big-ball attack, and Bajwa establishing herself as a mainstay on the Penn defense. "I know for a fact she can hit it like a bullet," Bajwa said. "I think she typifies Lafayette. They're not pretty players, but they get the job done. They're excellent grass players." And that is a fact that does not bode well for the Quakers, who struggled on grass with the big-ball game Saturday in a 3-0 loss to Delaware. When the Quakers travel to Lafayette today for the 3:30 p.m. contest, it will only be more of the same. "The Lafayette game is going to be very similar to Delaware," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "I think we have to make the adjustments to grass, but we shouldn't blow it out of proportion because a good team ought to be able to play well on brick." The Quakers will also have to be more aggressive and take advantage of the their scoring opportunities, especially in forcing and converting on corners. Against Delaware, Penn nearly matched the Blue Hens in shots on goal, but failed to put the ball in the cage. The No. 16 Leopards (3-1), fresh from a confidence-building 1-0 loss to No. 4 Penn State, have had little problem scoring. Forwards Jenn Burkin (four goals in four games) and Angie Eifert (two goals) will combine with Wharton to head the Lafayette attack. "We're a young team, but we have a real cohesive unit," Lafayette coach Ann Gold said. "It ought to be a good matchup. We're obviously aware that Amy Pine can be Penn's catalyst, but we expect them to be very solid all around." Gold will likely use defender and defensive specialist Toni Vi Ottavio to mark Pine and protect the Leopards' talented, if inexperienced, goalkeeper, Danielle De Horatius. Though De Horatius has started only four games at the college level, she boasts a 0.89 goals against average. "We hope Penn will be worrying about us as much as we're worrying about them," Gold said. In truth, the Quakers are more concerned about executing their own game plan than adjusting to their opponent's strategy. "The coaches said against Delaware, we let ourselves be defeated by the surface," Bajwa said. "We failed to execute, we failed to play our game. We need to build the confidence that we can play our game on grass. We need to be confident that we can still make nice passes and we can still make good plays in spite of the surface. "We're definitely fired up to play. Losing is not our thing. We'll be ready to play." So will her old nemesis, Sally Wharton.
(09/16/94 9:00am)
NEWARK, Del. -- Though the Delaware field hockey facility is just a short hop down Interstate 95 from Franklin Field, the two fields couldn't be any further apart. The home of the Blue Hens looks like an afterthought -- a couple of aluminum bleachers exiled beyond the intramural fields at a far corner of the Delaware sports complex. It has none of the grandeur of Franklin Field, no rich history captured between stoic stone walls, no storied tradition to call its own. And it has no Astroturf. The last fact weighed most heavily on the Quakers Saturday. Penn suffered a 3-0 loss to a Blue Hen squad on the rise. It was the Quakers' first game of the season on a grass surface. Accustomed to the lightning-fast play and true bounces of the carpet, Penn (2-1) looked out of sync and uncomfortable with the slow, awkward grass game. "We're used to playing on turf where everything's more finesse, it's more controlled," senior midfielder Amy Pine said. "On grass, you never know where the ball's going to go. The drives are so bouncy. "It's a different style of play. On turf, it's not so much work, it's how fast you are. On grass, it's really getting your body behind the ball. It's something we should be able to adjust to, but I don't think we adjusted too well today." The change in surfaces also forced the Quakers to change their game plan and employ the big-ball strategy. Penn hit longer shots which slowed up in the grass. But it was Delaware who executed the game plan more efficiently, beating the Quakers to the ball, time and time again, and physically outmuscling the Penn forwards. "We were a little lethargic," junior sweeper Sue Quinn said. "We practiced big balls on Friday, but we seemed to forget it. We were supposed to hit it deep and run on to it, but we lacked the running aspect today." Despite being outplayed and spending much of the first half on its own end of the field, Penn didn't lack scoring opportunities. The Quakers finished the game having attempted nine shots on goal to Delaware's 12, with both teams' chances coming primarily on corners. Pine, recuperating from an injured knee, had trouble getting off clean shots on corners all afternoon. Neither squad was able to convert until just 34 seconds remained in the first half and Blue Hen senior forward Sue Daddona ran down a loose ball on the right side of the cage. Daddona, with two Quaker defenders on her heels, flipped a bullet past Penn goalkeeper Suzy Pures just inside the left post. The goal was the first Pures has allowed all season. "Delaware created some good scoring opportunities," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "When they got the one goal late in the first half, they really set the tone, and as the game went on, they only got stronger." Penn opened the second half with renewed intensity. But again it was Daddona who seized the momentum only minutes into the period. On a near mirror of her first goal, Daddona came swooping in from the left side of the circle and fired her second unassisted goal into the lower right corner of the cage. "We just came up against a good team," Quinn said. "If they had played on our field, they would have been in our shoes. It just so happened we played them there. " Delaware may also have harbored a vendetta against the Quakers, who defeated the Blue Hens 1-0 last year. "Teams are going to come at us," Sage said. "I think Delaware had something to prove this year and you could see that." Penn, meanwhile, will need to become more multi-dimensional and improve its grass game if it is to remain atop the Ivy League. "I think we have to reorganize," Sage said. "We have a lot of things to work on. Our team was outplayed. I think it's healthy to get kicked sometimes, and against Delaware, we got kicked."
(09/12/94 9:00am)
Some of the connections may have been a little rusty in the Quakers' 3-0 victory over St. Joseph's Saturday afternoon. But make no mistake about it -- the Penn field hockey team proved it is a precision machine, and the tuning will only get finer. "They're playing smart hockey," Penn coach Anne Sage said. "They know what they have to do and they don't panic. Today was just the beginning. They're just a polished team and they're very, very talented. It looked almost effortless." So effortless, in fact, it was almost eerie. The more experienced Quakers moved the Hawks around the field like pawns on a chessboard, negating St. Joe's speed advantage with superior communication and positioning. "We controlled the game so well because we have a lot of experience under our belts and a lot of talent," senior Lily Ma said. "It's not so much our individual skills and the individuals, but the fact that we use teamwork out there." In particular, Penn demonstrated an uncanny knack for stepping into passing lanes between St. Joe's backs and midfielders and earning easy transition opportunities. Early in the first half with the Quakers still jittery and out of sync, junior forward Amy Shapiro appeared to come out of nowhere and intercept a swing pass between two Hawks backs. Shapiro broke away and juked a third St. Joe's defender before being stopped at the cage. Though Shapiro didn't score, the play shifted the momentum and seemed to settle the Quakers. While Shapiro's play appeared to be a spectacular individual effort, it was a calculated result of solid team defense, perfectly executed by two veteran players. "One of the things we've been working on a lot this year from last year is our team defense and having the person who's on the ball take away a side," Shapiro said. "Kara [Philbin] was on the left and I just let her know I was on the right and told her to force it my way. Kara took away the left, so I just stepped up knowing the ball was going to come that way." "Usually we use the second layer of our team to direct the first layer," Penn assistant coach Donna Mulhern said. "They'll yell to take away one option and the ball gets passed right where we're expecting it. It makes it a lot easier to end up in the right spot." Penn's defensive pressure dictated the style of play, forcing the Hawks to abandon the short passing game St. Joe's is accustomed to using in favor of a big-ball strategy which uses more long, downfield passes. "We like the big ball whereas St. Joe's likes to use the little passes," senior Lily Ma said. "By denying that to them, we broke them down and all they could do was run on to the ball." Offensively, the Quakers looked tentative in the early going as passes missed their marks and mishits were common. But again, Penn showed its poise by making necessary adjustments and learning from its mistakes. On the first Quakers corner, St. Joe's fleet flier reached the edge of the circle before the ball could be dead stopped and senior Amy Pine could get off a clean shot. On the next corner, Pine instead tapped it to junior Sue Quinn and allowed the Hawk flier to go streaking past. Quinn then fed it back to Pine, who hammered home Penn's second goal. It was a slick play, flawlessly executed. And that was the difference in the game. St. Joe's quickness was no match for the Quakers talent, experience and efficiency. As the game wore on, the Hawks grew tired and frustrated while the Penn machine just rolled on.
(09/09/94 9:00am)
Field Hockey wants to continue successField Hockey wants to continue successQuakers look for third straight Ivy crown Penn field hockey coach Anne Sage was grinning. With the Quakers' noon season opener at Franklin Field against St. Joseph's less than 36 hours away, the normally reserved Sage was still sporting a sly smile. "Watch out for this group," Sage said. "They're going to be dynamite." In reality, that's a fact the rest of the Ivy League already knows all too well. The Quakers (11-5, 6-0 Ivy League in 1993) return all but two players from a team that went undefeated in the Ivies en route to its second consecutive league crown. Penn earned an automatic NCAA tournament bid by winning the Ivy League title and competed in the tourney for the first time since 1989. "I couldn't have asked for more," senior goalkeeper Suzy Pures said after last season. "We got the job done. What we set out to do we got done. We won the Ivies and we made the tournament. Everything we wanted to do has been done." However, in the first round of the NCAAs, the Quakers were soundly beaten, 3-0, by then No. 9 Syracuse. After manhandling league opponents throughout the regular season, Penn could not weather the Syracuse attack, nor could the Quakers mount any of their own successful offensive pressure. "Our players have been together for three years and I really want us to enjoy this year," Sage said. "They're carrying on our winning tradition." Penn's quest to upset preseason favorite and defending national champion Princeton, and complete the three-peat begins with its heart and soul -- the seniors. "The seniors are really setting the tone," Sage said. "The luxury of having an experienced team is that they're mature players and they play well together. I think they take us to another level." Defensively, the Quakers may be approaching another stratosphere. Senior co-captain and defender Mandy Kaufman and Pures are back to bolster a defensive unit that allowed only a single goal in 1993 Ivy competition. Kaufman, a first team all-Ivy selection and U.S. Olympic Festival participant last year, is a key in sparking Penn's transition attack. Pures (1.17 GAA) has been tough on the rare occasions when she has been tested. Beyond Kaufman and Pures, Penn enjoys depth and experience in the defensive backfield. Senior Rani Bajwa and junior Sue Quinn are both tenacious competitors and perennial starters while senior Melissa Sage also saw action in 10 games last season. Penn possesses a bona fide offensive threat in senior co-captain and midfielder Amy Pine. A two-time all-Ivy selection and team MVP, Pine (10 goals, 5 assists) finished second in the league in scoring last year and was named a first team Mid-Atlantic regional all-American as she seemingly scored at will throughout the season. Pine's fellow senior and second team all-Ivy selection, Lily Ma, is a skilled passer on the left side, while juniors Jessica Gilhorn and Abby Herbine round out an experienced midfield which loses no one from the 1993 squad. It was this midfield that allowed Penn to attack through well-executed transitions. At attack, juniors and second team all-Ivy selections Kara Philbin and Amy Shapiro return as Penn's second and third leading scorers, with seven and five goals in '93, respectively. Juniors Marla Maiorano and Tara Owens both will add depth to the offense while splitting time at forward and bolstering the scoring attack. "I think after winning back-to-back titles and going to the NCAAs last year, we're well-seasoned and experienced," Sage said. "We know exactly what we have to do. This season we're in a situation where teams are going to try to come in and knock us off. We're top dogs." The Quakers' first challengers will be the Hawks (8-9-1 in 1993), who are much improved this year and hungry for a top 20 ranking. St. Joe's relies heavily on junior midfielder Dani Blean, who was named Atlantic-10 Defensive Player of the Year in 1993. However, Blean is not just a one-dimensional player as she also managed to lead her team in scoring last season. Penn has only faced this crosstown neighbor once before. In 1976, the Quakers won the only meeting, 4-0. "St. Joe's is well coached and plays a very similar style to ours," Sage said. "We can't be tentative. We have to go out and set the tone." With an experienced squad that is almost as intense and confident as she is, Sage doesn't appear overly concerned.
(04/21/94 9:00am)
Usually the Penn softball team only loses to a better team. Sometimes it gets beaten by dumb luck. Every once in a while it's even victimized by the umpires. But in yesterday afternoon's doubleheader sweep at the hands of St. Joseph's, the Quakers simply beat themselves. The Hawks exploited five Penn errors early in game one and cruised to a 9-1 victory behind freshmen Carrie McCarthy and Jeannie Hoffman's combined one-hitter. In the second game, the Quakers (13-18) outhit St. Joe's 7-6, but squandered scoring opportunities with late-inning baserunning blunders en route to a 3-2 loss. The losses were Penn's fourth and fifth in a row. "In the first game, we made a couple of errors and then things just snowballed," junior co-captain Dawn Kulp said. "When we do bad things, we seem to do a lot of bad things." The bad things occurred right from the beginning. With Dawn Kulp on first, catcher Stacey Thompson singled up the middle. Unfortunately for the Quakers, Kulp broke the cardinal rule in baseball -- she was thrown out at third base by at least 10 feet. This was the type of poor decision-making that would plague Penn all afternoon. The bad things continued when senior pitcher Lanie Moore walked the No. 9 hitter on four pitches to open the third inning. Two errors, a walk and a double later, Moore handed the ball to freshman Melanie Bolt without retiring a batter in the inning. Bolt was almost able to stop the bleeding, but with two outs and the bases loaded, Megan Kennedy hit a rocket to the wall in center field to clear the bases and stake St. Joe's to a 6-1 lead. "We sucked," senior co-captain Rachel Walsh said. "We made bad decisions on the field and bad decisions on the basepaths." Penn blew a golden scoring opportunity in the bottom of the third on a questionable coaching move by Penn coach Linda Carothers. Trailing by five runs with runners on second and third and one out, Carothers signaled for senior catcher Stacey Thompson, the team's leading hitter with a .394 average and the only Quaker to get a hit in the first game, to bunt. Thompson fouled out to the catcher who promptly fired back to third base to double up Kulp and end the inning and the Quakers' scoring opportunity. "Sometimes we question decisions," junior Shannon Hembrough said. "But it's not our call to make. Apparently, the rules we learned in Little League don't apply in college." Moore was saddled with the loss in game one, despite giving up only one hit, four walks and one earned run in two-plus innings. But if Lanie Moore's luck was tough, freshman Vicki Moore's luck was even tougher in game two. Vicki Moore scattered six hits and didn't allow an earned run while striking out six through seven innings. "Our pitching wasn't as sharp as it has been," Kulp said. "But we pitched well enough to win." The Hawks (13-11) used an error and three singles to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Penn's bats were quiet until the fourth when senior Hilary Stamos walked and freshman Laurie Nestler (2-3 in game two and the only Quaker with more than one hit) and Kulp singled consecutively to load the bases with one out. "In the second game, we were much more aggressive at the plate," Walsh said. "We got more runners on." If only they had stayed on. Before sophomore Kristin Richeimer could deliver an RBI single up the middle to tie the game, Stamos was picked off third base on a snap throw by the Hawks' catcher, Dana Moyer. In the seventh, the Quakers shot the other foot. St. Joe's junior outfielder Colleen Fahy singled and took second on the confusion between Nestler and Abby Shore in the outfield. The Hawks took advantage of this miscue by sacrificing her to third. She later scored on an RBI single by Kristen Luciano. Then in the bottom of the inning, with the score 3-1, Richeimer led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Kara Lecker. In spite of the two-run deficit, Carothers had Bolt sacrifice Lecker to second. With two outs and Lecker still stranded at second, Thompson stepped up and launched a single back through the box. Lecker easily beat the throw to the plate, but Moyer was alert enough to nail a sliding Thompson at second to end the game. "We should have won," Hembrough said. "We let down when we shouldn't have. They took advantage of it and we didn't." Mired in a five-game losing streak, and eliminated from Ivy league contention, the Quakers will have a difficult time motivating themselves for the season's final four games. "We're definitely concerned," Kulp said. "We really need to step it up before the season ends." "It's going to be hard to get up for games when we're so far down in the Ivies," Hembrough said. "But we know we can still win."
(04/15/94 9:00am)
The dozen or so La Salle fans camped on a set of old wooden bleachers had already begun to pack up their things and go home when Penn senior Stacey Thompson sent a double bouncing off the orange mesh fencing in left field. With the Penn softball team down to its final out, and trailing 3-2 with the bases empty, a Quaker comeback looked about as likely as a San Diego Padres' pennant. Penn had managed to scrape up only three runs all afternoon, and hadn't led in either game. But Thompson's double sent a surge of hope through the Quaker dugout, and brought freshman clean-up hitter Vicki Moore to the plate with a chance to be a hero. Moore answered the challenge by belting a 1-2 pitch back through the box and into center field. Thompson came roaring around third on the play and just beat the throw to the plate with a head-first slide. Suddenly, it was a whole new ballgame. "I didn't have a hit all day," Moore said. "Stacey was standing out on second base and she yelled over to coach, 'Don't worry. She'll get a hit.' There was a lot of pressure, but I just knew I had to hit the ball." Senior Hilary Stamos then proved why she's Penn's best clutch hitter, crushing an RBI triple into the gap in right-center for her third hit of the ballgame. The Explorers botched the relay throw, allowing Stamos to score and giving Penn a 5-3 lead. "We just don't give up," Penn coach Linda Carothers said. "We didn't panic out there. We hit the ball really well right when we needed to hit the ball well -- late in the game when it mattered." In the bottom of the seventh, Moore closed out the game in stellar fashion, striking out the last two batters looking to earn the complete game victory. Moore didn't yield an earned run and struck out eight. "Those are the things that we're capable of," Carothers said. "It was a real character thing. When we got ahead, we were playing to win. We weren't playing not to lose and that's a real big thing that a lot of people don't understand. This team doesn't do that." In a 5-1 loss in the first game, the Quakers hurt themselves with poor defense. Senior Lanie Moore gave up only five hits, but three key errors led to four unearned runs. Offensively, Penn hit the ball hard in every inning, but could only manage a single run when sophomore Abby Shore scored after a leadoff triple in the fifth. "We really drove the ball in the first game," Carothers said. "But we just couldn't get anything to fall." Coaches and players from both teams complained bitterly about the quality of the umpiring, particularly behind the plate. In the seventh inning of the second game, La Salle coach Ray Perri finally exploded and was ejected as he directed a tirade of expletives as the home plate umpire. "When the opposing coach got thrown out, I congratulated him," Carothers said. "We both have had this official and knew he was bad. There wasn't anything he didn't say that I would like to have said. The ump was just inconsistent. "You know you build a program and then you just have somebody who walks on the field and deregulates everything because he does what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. But, hey, sometimes you get those calls and sometimes those calls break your back. They broke our back in the first game, but he gave us a little bit of a momentum swing in the second game, and we were able to capitalize on that." Vicki Moore felt that the inconsistency in the officiating made it difficult for pitchers on both sides. "The ump didn't really help me or the other girl much," Moore said. "He was really inconsistent, but the coaches just kept telling me I had to pitch my game. They told me not to let him beat me and not to beat myself." · Penn's remained one game below the elusive .500 mark, moving to 13-14. The Explorers improved to 15-11. The Quakers will try to find a winning record when they play two doubleheaders this weekend. Penn will travel to Yale tomorrow for a 1 p.m. contest, and return home Sunday to host Dartmouth at noon at Warren Field. The Elis (11-10, 2-2 Ivy League) are the Ivy League's defending champions and are led by pitcher Jennifer Surface (6-5, 1.81 ERA, 55 K), who didn't surrender an earned run in Ivy League play last year. At the plate, Yale is paced by designated player Cindy Teti (.357 BA) and shortstop Amanda Taft (.345). At Dartmouth, softball is not an official varsity sport.
(04/08/94 9:00am)
Quakers set to host Ivy foes After stringing together a five-game winning streak, the Penn women's softball team returned to its old Jekyll and Hyde routine yesterday as the Quakers split a doubleheader with Drexel at Warren Field. Senior Hilary Stamos homered and freshman Vicki Moore collected three hits, including an RBI triple and double, as Penn crushed the Dragons 14-4 on 16 hits in the second game of the twinbill. But if the second game was one of the Quakers' best of the season, the first was one of the ugliest. Penn committed seven errors in the first three innings en route to a 9-2 loss. "We just didn't do anything right at all the first game," Moore said. "That had to be the worst game we've played. We played bad in Florida, but that was the worst." In the third inning, the Quakers were already trailing 3-2 on three unearned runs when the real comedy of errors began. Drexel's Kim Killo led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second when Wendi Colby reached on an error by freshman second baseman Samantha Smithson. After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Dragon Jessie Levandowski singled home Killo. Levandowski went halfway to second on the play, stopped, and then broke for the bag, drawing a throw from Penn freshman pitcher Melanie Bolt that ended up in center field and allowed Colby to score. The next batter, Heather Padullo, promptly hit a routine groundball which senior shortstop Rachel Walsh booted to allow Levandowski to score. Two outs and another error later, the Quakers finally returned to the dugout in a 6-2 hole. "It was like the Ghost of Christmas past," Stamos said. "That was the old Penn team that I've seen over the past three years. It was just error after error after error. Anyone who touched the ball was dropping it." The loss was the first of the year for Bolt, who was not only victimized by turnstile defense, but also by a lack of support at the plate. Drexel's Colby held the Quakers (10-11) to only three hits in the game with Bolt herself accounting for two. "She threw hard, but it was right there," Bolt said. "Basically, she had no junk. It was just a straight fastball and it came in nice. We should've really ripped into her." Penn wasted no time venting its frustration in the second game as the Quakers batted around in a four-run first inning, highlighted by sophomore Abby Shore's bases-loaded double. After Drexel (7-7) closed the gap to 4-2, Penn's big guns opened fire with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the fourth. First, senior Stacey Thompson doubled over the left fielder's head. Moore then launched a rocket to the wall in left-center for a triple to score Thompson. Moore later scored on an error to extend the Quaker lead to 6-2. All hell broke loose in the seventh inning when Stamos blasted a towering leadoff home run over the fence in left to make it 7-4. Thirteen batters later, Penn had spotted Moore a 10-run cushion to finish out the game. "The second game was definitely a payback game," Bolt said. Senior Lanie Moore earned the victory for the Quakers, working four innings after pitching the final three of the opener. Vicki Moore came on in the fifth and surrendered only two unearned runs over three innings. This weekend, Penn will need to be more focused when it opens the Ivy League season with a pair of doubleheaders against Princeton tomorrow and Cornell Sunday. Both game are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Warren Field. The Tigers (16-8), led by star freshman pitcher Maureen Davies (6-1, 1.32 ERA), finished second in the Ivy League last year and look to be tough again this year. The Big Red (5-10), formerly a club team, is entering its first year of Ivy competition.
(03/29/94 10:00am)
Four meets into the 1993-94 season, the Penn women's swimming team reached its crossroads. That's the point when all four members of the women's diving team either quit or fell victim to injuries, forcing the Quakers to forfeit 32 valuable diving points in every contest for the remainder of year. At the time, Penn was coming off a disappointing 167-131 loss to Columbia and still in search of its first victory of the season. With offseason personnel problems reducing the team roster to a scant 14 swimmers and only four upperclassmen, the Quakers were already severely handicapped. "Obviously, depth was a problem," sophomore Alison Zegar said. "We knew we weren't going to get points from the lower positions and it was going to be difficult for us to compete with larger, powerhouse schools." With the additional burden left by the diving team putting Penn in an even deeper hole, it would have been easy for the Quakers just to go on vacation until the individual-oriented Eastern championships arrived at the end of the season -- especially since they had already wasted their best opportunity of the season for an Ivy League victory with the loss to Columbia. Instead, Penn showed its character by splitting its final six dual meets to finish 3-7 overall, 0-7 Ivy League. After dropping two tough contests with Dartmouth and Brown, the Quakers exploded with three consecutive dual-meet victories. "We were already used to dealing with a small team," freshman Emily Montes said. "So losing the diving team wasn't that big a deal. We swam against three schools that weren't as strong and that helped us a little bit." Penn began its midseason streak by crushing Navy and Johns Hopkins, 168.5-125.5 and 140-93, respectively, in a rare weekend sweep at Sheerr Pool. The Quakers then captured their third victory in four days, defeating Swarthmore 109-76 for their only road victory of the year. Despite modest success in the win column, Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert maintained from the season's outset the Eastern championships would provide the best showcase for her swimmers' talents. "We focused from the beginning of the season on qualifying as many swimmers as we could for Easterns," freshman Gillian Morris said. "We ended up scoring only four less points than last year's team with only half as many people, so I think we did pretty well." Morris and Zegar were probably the Quakers' most consistent and versatile swimmers throughout the 1993-94 season. Zegar, Penn's top finisher at the Easterns with a 10th-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle and an 11th in the 1,650 free, was equally tough in the sprints and distance events all season long. Morris (14th in the 200 butterfly at Easterns) kept the Quakers in a number of meets this season with key victories in fly and freestyle sprints. Senior Megan Staats, sophomores Gillian Beamer, Tanya Nolan and Kari Bolstad, and freshmen Natalie Wolfinger and Montes also qualified for the Easterns. Morris thought the season was an enjoyable, if not successful, campaign overall. "It was a lot of fun this year," Morris said. "I wasn't disappointed. As a freshman, it was a bit of learning experience, but we all had a good time." With a solid nucleus of underclassman, the promise of a deeper roster and the return of the diving team next year, the Penn women's swimming program appears to be on the rise again. Next year, there may not even be a crossroads.
(03/25/94 10:00am)
Quakers play four this weekend After graduating nine seniors from an injury-plagued 1993 women's softball team that finished 10-21, Penn coach Linda Carothers has put together a strange brew of seasoned veterans and talented young freshmen that may very well spell the recipe for success in 1994. "It's a nice mix," Carothers said. "The freshmen are a challenging phase of our game. They really allow us to step up and compete a little bit. They're real aggressive and along with our returning ballplayers, I think we're going to do real well." Around the diamond, the Quakers are anchored by all-Ivy shortstop and senior co-captain Rachel Walsh (.167, 12 RBI in 1993). Walsh, a four-year starter, is as solid as they come defensively with excellent range and a quick release. At second base, freshman Samantha Smithson has played well in the early going in her battle with junior Carmin Rivera for the everyday job. The hot corner belongs to sophomore Kristen Richeimer (.235 in 20 games), who has the unenviable task of replacing three-time all-Ivy third baseman Paula Mueller and her .353 average and rifle arm. At first base, Carothers will platoon her top three slugging pitchers to keep their hefty bats in the lineup when they're not on the mound. Junior co-captain and all-Ivy selection Dawn Kulp (.197, 9 RBI, 5 SB), the incumbent, is looking to rebound from an injury-riddled 1993 campaign. She will share time with two gifted freshmen -- heavy-hitting Vicki Moore and Melanie Bolt, a left-handed speedster. The Quakers are solid behind the plate with senior Stacey Thompson (.286, .413 slugging) slated to do most of the catching. Thompson is Penn's top returning hitter and always a threat to hit the long ball. Freshman Abby Altman has proven more than capable thus far and should also see some action. "Stacey Thompson is really hitting the ball well so far this year," Carothers said. "If she stays consistent and stays focused, she'll be able to replace some of my long ball hitters." Three excellent athletes will patrol the outfield for Penn with a number of talented freshmen waiting in the wings. Senior Hilary Stamos (.290, 2 HR, 13 RBI in 1992), perhaps the Quakers' best pure hitter, has returned from a year abroad in Russia to take over the right field. In center field, sophomore Abby Shore (.250, 3 SB) will bolster the defense and add some speed on the basepaths. Freshman Laurie Nestler has earned the everyday job in left field, swinging the bat well so far this season. Defensively, veterans Thompson, Walsh and Shore should provide some much-needed stability up the middle for the Quakers. Last year, Penn committed 90 errors to its opponents' 53, leading to a whopping two unearned runs per game. "Our fielding has definitely improved this year," Carothers said. "I bet our errors are down and we're not giving away as many runs. Our game as a whole has been stepped up a little bit this year." Perhaps the biggest question mark entering the 1994 season was at the plate, as the Quakers lost their top three hitters and run-producers to graduation. Penn has hit the ball well at times this season, but is still searching for more consistency overall. "Our whole team is pretty stacked with hitting," Shore said. "Everyone's hitting the ball hard right at people. It just hasn't been falling -- but it will." Carothers has been pleasantly surprised with her club's performance at the plate in the early going. "We were kind of concerned coming in," Carothers said. "But so far we've been really excited about what we've been able to do at the plate. Hilary came back and filled a really big void. We have Laurie Nestler who's hitting the ball well and Vicki Moore as well. If they can stay consistent and stay on the ball, we'll be fine." The one area where there's no concern this year is on the mound where the Quakers boast five top-notch pitchers, led by senior workhorse Lanie Moore (4-13, 2.13 ERA, 14 CG). Senior Cherie Gerstadt (1-2, 1.85 ERA) and Kulp (4-6, 1.85 ERA) are both coming off injuries that limited their duty in 1993. Both have command of a wide variety of pitches to keep opposing hitters guessing. Newcomers Vicki Moore and the left-handed Bolt have also shown promise and should see plenty of innings. "It's great to have five good pitchers," Kulp said. "We've never had this much depth. When someone is getting hit and people are really starting to time them, it's good to be able to bring in someone else, especially since we're all so different in our styles. We have a windmill pitcher and a left-hander -- just a lot of different combinations." Overall, Penn is 4-9 entering a pair of doubleheader this weekend -- at Delaware tomorrow and at Warren Field Sunday against Lafayette at 1 p.m. Carothers believes once everything clicks the Quakers can compete with anybody in the league. "I think we've got a real good outlook for the season," Carothers said. "I hardly expect us to be challenging everybody for everything, but if our freshmen mature along the way and our seniors play well, we'll be right there. Right now we're waiting to see how things mesh. So far we've been real happy with what we've seen."
(03/18/94 10:00am)
While the Penn softball team probably won't find a suntan tomorrow in West Chester, it won't find a national powerhouse like Oklahoma either. After dropping seven of their first nine games in Florida over spring break, including two to the Sooners, the Quakers are looking to rebound with a doubleheader sweep of the lowly Rams. "We beat 'em last year," sophomore Abby Shore said. "And this year's team is 100 percent better than last year's team. We have a lot of good bats now. They weren't awake in Florida, but we do have a lot of good bats." Fortunately for the Quaker batters, the West Chester pitching staff should be the next best thing to No-Doze. The Rams do not return a single pitcher or catcher from a team that went 8-21 in 1993. West Chester will be forced to rely on two junior college transfers -- junior righthanders Heather Richardson from Ocean City Community College and Jen Hoffmaster from Keystone Junior College -- as well as freshman righthander Jodi Held to fill the gap. "Mentally, it helps us to know about their pitching situation," Penn coach Linda Carothers said. "We'll see what we do offensively and defensively. It's game day that matters." The Quakers, on the other hand, have a number of talented hurlers, led by junior co-captain Dawn Kulp and four-year starter Lanie Moore. With Moore recovering from an injury, freshmen Vicki Moore and Melanie Bolt will likely see action as well. In the field, Penn is anchored up the middle by senior co-captain Rachel Walsh at shortstop and senior catcher Stacey Thompson, while Shore bolsters the outfield. Although the Quakers have a number of key veterans in the starting lineup, they are still a relatively young team. With 11 freshmen on the 20-man roster, Penn has sacrificed experience for depth and young talent. Despite their record, the Quakers (2-7) have played well at times in the early going, earning shutouts in both victories. Carothers believes that to win, the inexperienced Quakers need to be more consistent -- beginning tomorrow. "We're going to play game by game," Carothers said. "We have a couple of adjustments to make. Defensively, we've got some things we need to do better. That's what we've been working on in practice. Tomorrow, we'd like to duplicate what we did last year and win two games to start us off on a winning note."
(03/01/94 10:00am)
If all had gone according to schedule, Penn sophomore Preety Sorathia never would have pulled out a three-set upset victory Friday over Cornell's Jigisha Pathakji at the Princeton Invitational. She would never have even taken the court for her singles match. Sorathia, the Quakers' No. 3 singles player, was a late replacement for junior No. 1 singles player and No. 6 seed Barrie Bernstein, who missed the trip because of midterms. She took full advantage of the opportunity, responding with a solid 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Pathakji, last fall's ECAC champion in No. 2 singles. "It was a tough match," Sorathia said. "Jigisha is kind of an annoying person to play. She doesn't do anything special, but she's quick and she gets to a lot of balls which makes for a long match. I served extremely well, so I won a lot of cheap points that way. I think the difference was that I played more aggressively." In the second round, Sorathia was victimized by the draw as she was paired against the No. 4 seed, George Washington's Lisa Chaffron. Chaffron set down Sorathia in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. "I just couldn't break her serve in the first set," Sorathia said. "In the second, I just made too many mistakes, and she hit some great shots." In other singles action, senior co-captain Leanne Mos made an early exit with first-round losses in both the championship and consolation rounds. "My first match I think I really expected to win," Mos said. "I ended up losing because my opponent really picked up her game in the third set. The second match I just didn't play well. I was terrible." Mos's performance improved on the doubles side as she and senior co-captain Suejin Kim filled in for the Quakers' No. 1 tandem of Bernstein and Sorathia, the tournament's No. 4 seed. After a 6-4, 6-2, loss to the No. 2 duo from Princeton in the first round, Mos and Kim snatched a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory from Columbia's No. 1 team in the consolation match. "We were in our first match the whole time," Kim said. "It was just a matter of a few points here and there. Against Columbia, I didn't play too well in the beginning and Leanne sort of picked up the slack. Then it started coming together. We fought off a match point and were able to pull it out. It was good match to get us back in the groove." Kim viewed the tournament as an excellent chance for Mos and her to hone their doubles game before Spring Break. "It was good match experience," Kim said. "At least for doubles, Villanova and Rutgers weren't very strong teams, so this was more of a task for us." Penn coach Cissie Leary felt all three of her players had a successful weekend. "I was pleased," Leary said. "For us to take those guys to Princeton and get any wins at all was great. Everyone was playing a step up from their normal level. Essentially, it was a good early tournament to get some matches before Spring Break."
(02/25/94 10:00am)
Women victorious in first two After a two-month winter layoff, the Penn women's tennis team showed no signs of sluggishness last weekend at Levy Pavilion. The Quakers opened the spring season by ripping Villanova 9-0 last Friday and holding off a tough Rutgers squad Sunday, 5-4. "I'm really excited," Penn coach Cissie Leary said. "With Villanova, we definitely expected to win, but with Rutgers I knew it would be a war. They were ranked ahead of us in the fall so this was a big win for us. I felt we could beat them, but we had to play well." Senior co-captains Leanne Mos and Suejin Kim set the tone early against the Pioneers, rolling to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Thayer and Tchourumoff at No. 2 doubles. With the Quakers clinging to a 2-1 lead going into singles play, veteran Kim stepped up once again and handily disposed of Rutgers' Stacey Strolovitz 6-3, 6-1 in No. 4 singles to give Penn the momentum and a comfortable two-game lead. "Suejin was rock solid," Leary said. "She and Leanne had a super doubles match, and Suejin just went out and clocked her opponent in doubles." After sophomore Preety Sorathia defeated Christina Thayer 6-3, 6-4, in No. 3 singles, junior Cori Sibley fought through a sprained ankle to clinch the dual meet victory by wearing down the Pioneers' Prabha Sukumaran 6-1, 6-3. For Sorathia, Sunday's match against Thayer had a special significance. "It was almost more than a match," Sorathia said. "Christina and I trained together when we were at Middle States. We traveled together and we practiced together, so we became pretty good friends. That made it kind of a nervous match." Against Villanova, Penn had no problems emotional or otherwise. The Quakers took eight of the nine matches in straight sets, four of them 6-0, 6-0. Only Mos in No. 2 singles came out flat, dropping the first set to Wildcat Kelly Barnes before rallying to capture a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory. "She was a good player, but I definitely wasn't myself in the first set," Mos said. "I started playing a lot better in the second set." With its two season-opening victories, Penn (2-0) has duplicated its quick fall start when the Quakers breezed through their first two meets only to drop five of their next six. Nevertheless, Penn believes it has matured mentally over the winter. "The freshmen are used to being with the team now," Sorathia said. "The team dynamics are much more close-knit, and I think you can see that in our matches." Leary sees a physical improvement in the squad as well. "Physically, I think we're looking really good," Leary said. "Everybody's hitting the ball really well and they're focusing pretty well. I'm really excited right now." The players are taking a more cautious approach to their early success. "These two matches were good practice to get ready for spring break," Sorathia said. "But it's after spring break in the Ivy League when it really matters." · Sorathia, Mos and Kim will travel to Princeton today for the three-day Princeton Invitational tournament. Mos and Sorathia will compete in the singles bracket while Mos and Kim will team up to represent Penn in doubles. "This weekend is really just for rankings," Sorathia said. "To us, it's just like a formal practice for spring break."
(02/24/94 10:00am)
Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, eight members of the Penn women's swimming team have swam hundreds of miles in Sheerr Pool, driven only by the promise of a single distant moment when those efforts might be rewarded. Today the eight qualifying Quakers travel to Princeton to challenge some of the best swimmers on the east coast in the three-day Eastern Championships. The Easterns are officially a team tournament scored on a complicated point system, but the real focus is on individual times and performances. "This is the first chance we've had all season to really swim our best," sophomore Alison Zegar said. "We'll be tapered and shaved and all of the best people will be there. For once, the score doesn't matter. We'll be swimming for ourselves." Zegar, Penn's highest returning scorer from last year with an eighth-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, will compete in the 200, 500, 1,650 freestyle today. Fellow sophomores Kari Bolstad (200 and 500 free, 200 fly) and Gillian Beamer (100 and 200 breast) join Zegar, along with freshmen Gillian Morris (500 free, 100 and 200 fly), Natalie Wolfinger (200 back, 400 individual medley) and Emily Montes (200 back). Each competitor will also swim various legs of the freestyle and medley relays along with two relay specialists -- senior Megan Staats and sophomore Tanya Nolan. With seven underclassmen among their eight representatives, the Quakers will be one of the youngest squads competing at the Easterns. Nevertheless, Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur doesn't believe inexperience will be a problem. "I think everyone can do well in their own events," Schnur said. "We have a lot of women who have a chance to compete and score very highly. "This year's freshman class has much more experience than last year's. Natalie and Emily have been to big meets and Gillian Morris has been to Junior Nationals. This is their first Easterns, but they've been to big meets in the past and know what to expect." With the reward for a season's worth of hard work on the line, one thing the Quakers certainly expect is to be in top physical and mental condition for today's meet. "Everyone has their own way of preparing themselves for a meet," Zegar said. "But I'm sure once we get to Princeton, everyone's going to get psyched."
(02/22/94 10:00am)
None of the blood in Blodgett Pool was Crimson Saturday as the Harvard men's swimming team butchered the Quakers 263-46 in Boston. Penn failed to win any of the dual meet's 17 events, managing a second-place finish in only the 200-yard freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay. The Crimson breezed through the contest virtually unscathed as the Quakers were swept in all but three events. "We never never expected to win," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "We never expected to go up there and be even remotely in the meet." But, Schnur was still pleased with his squad's performance. "We actually had a pretty good meet," he said. "I mean, Harvard is one of the top-15 teams in the nation. We had some really excellent efforts on Saturday. For the most part, from the focus of our team, we were very successful." In particular, the 400-freestyle team of senior captain Rob Morris, sophomore Geoff Munger and freshmen Jeff Brown and Ken Fletcher finished in 3:08.47, just two-10ths of a second off their best performance this season. "Our whole 400 relay team really did a great job," Schnur said. "It was one of the fastest untapered, unshaved swims we've ever had here. At Columbia, we went 3:08.20 with three guys unshaved, so I think we have a great relay team for Easterns. "We had some really excellent performances. Ken Fletcher had a good 100 fly. Freshman Bill Conn had a terrific day. He had lifetime best times in the 50 and 100 free which was great. Marc Gomberg had some really good breaststrokes, and Jeff Brown had a nice 200 free." The Quakers' effort may have been hampered by a number of factors. Four of Penn's top swimmers -- juniors Jim McGinnis, Tom Swift and Bryan Thornton and senior Jeff Rubacki -- didn't even make the trip to Cambridge. Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert also chose to use the Harvard meet to allow some swimmers to compete in unfamiliar events. "We left four of our best guys at home," Schnur said. "And we went a little bit off-lineup as well. We moved some people around to experience some new events and do some things out of the ordinary." With Saturday's loss, the Quakers finished up the EISL season in sixth place with a 3-6 record, 4-6 overall. Harvard's victory boosted the Crimson to 8-1, 10-2. Despite being beaten handily in their final two dual meets of the regular season, the Penn coaching staff is convinced their swimmers are right where they need to be with the Eastern championships looming only two weeks away. "We couldn't be happier with where we are right now," Schnur said. "We had one of our best dual meet records in the last three or four years. Our attitude going into Easterns is the best it's been all season. The guys are swimming unbelievably well right now. The losses will only make us meaner and hungrier for next week."
(02/18/94 10:00am)
With the Crimson locked into second place in the EISL, and the Quakers virtually assured of a sixth-place finish, the outcome of tomorrow's season-ending Penn-Harvard men's swim meet in Cambridge, Mass., won't have any effect on the final league standings. Why then are both teams stressing the importance of the meet? And why will nearly half of the competing swimmers be tapered and shaved? "The Eastern championships are coming up in two weeks," said Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur, whose squad enters the meet 4-5, 3-5 in the EISL. "For the 17 guys going to Easterns, this is their tune-up, their last rehearsal." Harvard assistant coach Dave Flocco expressed similar sentiments. "This is our last opportunity to race before the Easterns," Flocco said. "We want to race well and race smart. We've got to get up and go." The Crimson (9-2, 7-1 EISL), two-time defending Eastern champions and ranked No. 18 in the nation, haven't had much trouble getting up or going this season. Harvard boasts three prospective NCAA qualifiers, including senior captain Richard Ou (breaststroke), junior Tim Carver (backstroke) and freshman Dave Schwartz (breaststroke). Junior Dave Heilman should also challenge Penn senior co-captain Rob Morris in the freestyle sprints. "Harvard is very, very good," Schnur said. "Our focus tomorrow isn't on winning and losing. We're focusing more on rehearsing the right things. Harvard's also coming off a big meet with Princeton for which a lot of their guys shaved, so they'll be ready for us tomorrow. We expect to be competitive, but for guys like Geoff Munger, Marc Gomberg, Ken Fletcher and Jeff Brown, tomorrow will be a good tune-up." "Harvard is in contention to win the Easterns," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We're in contention to do well at Easterns. That's the difference. We're just not as deep as they are." Since the Eastern rosters are limited to 17 swimmers, both Penn and Harvard will also taper and shave those team members who won't be making the trip to Easterns. "For 11 of our guys, tomorrow's meet is the focus of the season," Schnur said. And for the 17 other Penn swimmers, the Crimson will provide a preview of the top-level competition the Quakers will face in two weeks. That's something.
(02/01/94 10:00am)
The Penn women's swimming team blew Navy right out of the water Friday afternoon and dissected Johns Hopkins Sunday to complete a rare weekend sweep at Sheerr Pool. The Quakers snapped their six-meet losing streak in stellar fashion, crushing the Midshipmen 168.5-125.5 despite forfeiting 32 diving points. The Blue Jays, ranked in the Division III Top 10, were never really a threat as Penn cruised to a 140-93 victory. "We put it all together this weekend," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Everything these girls have worked so hard for is coming true." Against Navy, the Quakers (4-6) jumped out to a huge early lead as five different Penn swimmers won the first six events. The Midshipmen (6-5) narrowed the gap to 80-67 with a one-two finish in the 50-yard freestyle and an uncontested sweep of the one-meter diving competition, but that was as close as Navy would get all day. Sophomores Tanya Nolan (55.83 seconds) and Kari Bolstad (55.06) then went one-two in the 100 freestyle, as did freshmen Natalie Wolfinger and Emily Montes in the 200 backstroke and sophomore Gillian Beamer and senior Eilish Byrne in the 200 breaststroke. Sophomore Alison Zegar then sunk Navy for good by capturing the 500 freestyle (5:08.69) and extending the Quaker lead to 45 points with only four events remaining. "Alison Zegar swam two excellent races," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Her 1,000 freestyle was her fastest untapered, unshaved time ever, and her 500 freestyle was either her best or her second-best." Against Johns Hopkins, the Quakers once again buried the opposition early and often, capturing the meet's first five events to put pressure on the Blue Jays (7-4). With diving excluded from the official team score, Johns Hopkins never found a foothold to climb back in the meet. "I think we stole their thunder early," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We were decisive in the early events." Penn also qualified its sixth swimmer for the Eastern Championships when Beamer made her cut Sunday in the 200 breaststroke. "It was such a relief to finally get it over with," Beamer said. "It's been frustrating because I've been recording the same times all year." The Quakers' weekend sweep provided a much-needed morale booster. Penn, which has only 14 members and no diving team, has been fighting an uphill battle all year. After the Navy meet, the Quakers gathered poolside for a rousing rendition of the "The Red and Blue" to celebrate their first victory of the season at Sheerr Pool. With only two dual meets left before the Eastern Championships, Penn may be peaking at just the right time. "We try to go after all of our meets like we're going to win," Montes said. "But we knew we had a better chance going into this weekend and that gave us a little more confidence. This will give us even more confidence for the rest of the season." · The Quakers are looking to continue their recent winning ways in today's battle against Swarthmore. The dual-meet, which takes place at Swarthmore, will give Penn a chance to grab its fifth win of the season and continue its new-found momentum towards the Easterns.
(01/28/94 10:00am)
Women face Midshipmen for first time in history It will be a busy weekend at Sheerr Pool as the Penn women's swimming team will host two dual meets over the weekend in its quest to qualify as many swimmers as possible for the Eastern Championships next month. The Quakers (2-6) will meet Navy (6-4) for the first time in school history this afternoon at 4:00 p.m., and Johns Hopkins (7-3), a fixture in the Division III Top 10, on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. "Navy is very strong," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "But they had some people graduate last year. It'll be a good meet because we match up well. We're pretty strong in some events where they're weak and they're strong where we're weak. I think we have a good chance." The Midshipmen are led by sophomore Heidi Searon, a middle- and long-distance freestyler, versatile junior Caroline Wisner, and freshman diving phenom Darcy Stewart. After the meet against Navy, Penn will not have much time to relax before the Quakers return to action. Against Johns Hopkins Sunday, Penn will enjoy a rare opportunity to compete on equal footing since the diving competition won't be scored. The Blue Jays, while undefeated in Division III competition, have already lost some to mediocre Division I teams including Maryland, Navy and Maryland-Baltimore County earlier this season. "Johns Hopkins is a very good team that's much improved over last year," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "We have a little more depth than they do which may give us an edge, but there ought to be a lot of competitive races." While the Quakers would certainly like to bolster their overall record this weekend, Penn's primary focus will once again be on qualifying and tuning up for the Eastern Championships. "We've eased up a little bit on the girls who haven't qualified yet [for Easterns]," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We want to provide as many opportunities as possible for our girls to make their cuts. They're going to be very competitive this weekend."
(01/24/94 10:00am)
It was like a good ol' fashioned prizefight Saturday afternoon in Scheerr Pool. The Penn men's swimming team dealt Ivy League rival Brown a number of staggering blows, only to have the Bears battle back time and time again and take the Quakers the distance before Penn sent them to the canvas, 133-110. "We were tenacious and aggressive today," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Our guys showed how tough they are and how much they really are dedicated to winning." The Quakers' victory extended their dual meet winning streak to three and boosted their Ivy League record to 3-3, 4-3 overall, while Brown fell to 1-4, 1-5. Penn is still undefeated this year at Scheerr Pool. "This was a tremendous victory for us today," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "This is our most league wins in the last three years and we're still unbeaten at home. That's a big goal for our guys." The Quakers came out fast and furious as they pounded Brown in the 400-yard medley relay to open the meet. Star freshman Jeff Brown then turned in the second fastest 1,000-yard freestyle time in Penn history to send the Bears reeling. To bolster Penn's chances in the medley relay, Lawlor-Gilbert took a calculated risk in moving senior co-captain Rob Morris from the anchor position in the 400-freestyle relay to the butterfly leg of the medley relay. Morris responded with one of the fastest 100 fly times in the league this year. After five events, Saturday's meet had all the makings of a slaughter, especially after Morris and junior Bryan Thornton took first and second in the 50 freestyle (21.66 and 22.02 seconds, respectively). It was at this point Brown coach Ed Reed disclosed his ace in the hole -- his divers. "Brown came to compete," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "[Reed] knew from the beginning that he had a cushion with his divers." In the 1-meter diving competition, the Bears, led by junior Bill Stevenson and freshman Jeff Sparks, swept first, second, and third to even up the meet and put the pressure back on the Quakers. "When we went down one, two, three in 1-meter diving, our guys really rose to the occasion," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I've had teams where that would have shaken their confidence. I just told the guys that we were going to have to come out even stronger than we started out." "The coach and some of the older swimmers sort of took us aside," Brown said. "They told us the meet was going to be won or lost in the second half and that we were going to have to stay focused to win." Sophomore Marc Gomberg immediately answered the challenge, taking first in the very next event -- the 200 butterfly (1:58.77). Morris and freshman Ken Fletcher then knocked the wind out of the Bears by finishing first and second in the 100 freestyle (47.60 and 48.35, respectively). "Marc really picked us up," Schnur said. "He seized the momentum at a time when we really needed it." After Brown flew past the field in the 500 freestyle (4:38.15), Penn saw its advantage threatened again in the 3-meter diving competition. This time, however, sophomore Josh Schultz turned in a solid performance and a second place finish to give the Quakers a precarious 106-101 advantage with two events remaining. With Morris scratched from the final event -- the 400 freestyle relay -- the responsibility fell on sophomore Rion Broshears to clinch the meet for Penn in the 200 breaststroke. Broshears delivered the knockout blow as he won by three full lengths. "I knew the match was really close," Broshears said. "I was prepared to do what it took to win the meet." "I was sure Rion would win," Schnur said. "If he's focused, there aren't many breaststrokers who can beat him." Penn's victory Saturday not only earned the Quakers the elusive .500 league record they have been seeking, but it also earned them a little respect around the league. "This is the first time in two or three years that we've been at the .500 mark in the Ivy League," Brown said. "It was a little more important to us than a normal meet. It shows we're on the way back. Other teams used to look past us. They can't do that anymore."
(01/21/94 10:00am)
Men hope curent hot streak continues tomorrow As the weather goes, so goes the Penn men's swimming team -- in the opposite direction. After struggling through most of the temperate fall semester, the Quakers are heating up just as most of the University is suffering through the record cold spell. Winners of their last two consecutive dual meets, including a 146-84 scorching of Dartmouth last weekend and a surprising 137-93 victory over Columbia on December 11, the Penn men (2-3 EISL, 3-3 overall) will attempt to boost their league record to the .500 mark for the first time this season when they host Brown (1-3, 1-4) tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Sheerr Pool. The Quakers have been blessed in each of the last two meets with excellent performances up and down the roster. While senior co-captain Rob Morris and freshman standout Jeff Brown have anchored Penn in both the short- and long-distance freestyle events, junior Jim McGinnis and sophomores Sean Davison and Rion Broshears have picked up the slack in the backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, respectively. The Bears, on the other hand, are led by decorated freestyler and senior co-captain Ben McBride, as well as junior diver Bill Stevenson. In addition, Brown coach Ed Reed is looking for a significant contribution from some of his younger swimmers. "We have a lot of freshmen with some talent," Reed said. "They're not superstars, but we expect them to begin to come into their own toward the end of the season -- beginning this weekend against Penn." "Brown is a very good team that's beaten us the last two years in a row," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "In fact, last year they beat us pretty easily." Tomorrow's dual meet, however, may be an excellent opportunity for the Quakers to snap that two-year losing streak and put together a little winning streak of their own. Even Reed concedes that Penn might have a slight advantage going into the meet. "I think Penn's a little stronger than we are right now," Reed said. "They've got a great freshman in Jeff Brown. I think [Penn coach] Kathy [Lawlor-Gilbert] has got a little more balance than we do. We're going to compete. We're not tapering off or anything like that. We're just going to have to swim right through the meet and swim as well as we can." Schnur insists the Quakers aren't taking the Bears lightly. "They might be playing possum," Schnur said. "They might want us to be overconfident. That won't happen. We've been focusing all week on Saturday's meet to bring ourselves back to .500. We're on a mission."
(01/21/94 10:00am)
Men hope current hot streak continues tomorrow As the weather goes, so goes the Penn men's swimming team -- in the opposite direction. After struggling through most of the temperate fall semester, the Quakers are heating up just as most of the University is suffering through the record cold spell. Winners of their last two consecutive dual meets, including a 146-84 scorching of Dartmouth last weekend and a surprising 137-93 victory over Columbia on December 11, the Penn men (2-3 EISL, 3-3 overall) will attempt to boost their league record to the .500 mark for the first time this season when they host Brown (1-3, 1-4) tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Sheerr Pool. The Quakers have been blessed in each of the last two meets with excellent performances up and down the roster. While senior co-captain Rob Morris and freshman standout Jeff Brown have anchored Penn in both the short- and long-distance freestyle events, junior Jim McGinnis and sophomores Sean Davison and Rion Broshears have picked up the slack in the backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, respectively. The Bears, on the other hand, are led by decorated freestyler and senior co-captain Ben McBride, as well as junior diver Bill Stevenson. In addition, Brown coach Ed Reed is looking for a significant contribution from some of his younger swimmers. "We have a lot of freshmen with some talent," Reed said. "They're not superstars, but we expect them to begin to come into their own toward the end of the season -- beginning this weekend against Penn." "Brown is a very good team that's beaten us the last two years in a row," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "In fact, last year they beat us pretty easily." Tomorrow's dual meet, however, may be an excellent opportunity for the Quakers to snap that two-year losing streak and put together a little winning streak of their own. Even Reed concedes that Penn might have a slight advantage going into the meet. "I think Penn's a little stronger than we are right now," Reed said. "They've got a great freshman in Jeff Brown. I think [Penn coach] Kathy [Lawlor-Gilbert] has got a little more balance than we do. We're going to compete. We're not tapering off or anything like that. We're just going to have to swim right through the meet and swim as well as we can." Schnur insists the Quakers aren't taking the Bears lightly. "They might be playing possum," Schnur said. "They might want us to be overconfident. That won't happen. We've been focusing all week on Saturday's meet to bring ourselves back to .500. We're on a mission."
