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(03/02/94 10:00am)
For sheer parity, nothing beats Ivy League women's basketball. If you want to see games in which there's no telling who is going to beat whom on a given night, this is the conference. No team better exemplifies the Ivies than Penn. This is a team that went to New York and dropped consecutive games to Columbia and Cornell, two of the poorest teams in the country, then turned around the next weekend, thumped second-place Yale and took league-leading Brown right down to the wire before losing by only one point. Last night's game against Princeton, then, was the Quakers' entire league season wrapped into one 40-minute package. The 69-54 lopsided score not withstanding, Penn still went through its Jekyll-and-Hyde routine yet another time, especially on the offensive end of the floor. For a team that entered the game shooting a horrid 35 percent from the field, the first 20 minutes were nothing less than a dream. Junior forward Shelly Dieterle started the game on fire, hitting 5 of 6 mid-range shots to give the Quakers a 19-12 lead. For Dieterle, who usually sees substantially fewer shots than the rest of the starting five yet leads the group in shooting percentage, the key to her fast start was creating open shots for herself. "We've been talking the last couple of days about making good cuts and coming off screens and wanting the ball and so on," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "She just did what she needed to do." After Princeton scored seven straight points to tie the game, it was time for the rest of the team to step up. The Tigers had wanted to concentrate defensively on Penn senior center Katarina Poulsen, but Dieterle's hot shooting prevented them from doing that. The result was that Poulsen was faced with much less defensive pressure, and the 6-foot-3 center used her height advantage to knock in easy shot after easy shot. She finished the half with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting, and scored seven of the Quakers' final nine points to increase a 26-21 lead to 35-21. As it turned out, that run finished the Tigers. The sharpshooting inside players were complemented by junior guards Katina Banks and Shelly Bowers, who combined for 10 points on 50-percent shooting. When all was said and done, Penn shot 60 percent from the floor, excellent numbers for anyone, astounding ones for the Quakers. The best part about it was the balance -- everyone was contributing and virtually everyone was shooting well. "A lot of times [Poulsen] gets triple-teamed, which is really tough on her," Dieterle said. "So today it was great that we were able to balance it all out. Sometimes that's what we lack." But Penn lacked much more than that offensively during the second half. It quickly became apparent Princeton was not going to allow the Quakers any more shots without a huge fight. The Tigers refused to give Dieterle any more decent looks at the basket, and hounded her into several turnovers and no points from the field in the second half. Meanwhile, the Quakers as a whole were having a far more difficult time working the ball around in the second half. The crisp passes and open shots that had come so easily during the first 20 minutes were now nowhere to be found, as Princeton was effective in stifling Penn's ball movement and collapsing inside to prevent easy shots. "Princeton really made us work on offense [in the second half]," Soriero said. "The shot clock ticked way down a number of times. There's being patient and being too patient, and we were too patient." Having to scramble to launch last second shots as the shot clock neared expiration, Penn shot miserably, even by its standards. Only 5 of 22 shots (23 percent) went in from the field in the second half. As the sloppiness increased, reminding everyone of games gone by, so did the frustration. Senior forward Julie Gabriel was whistled for an intentional foul, allowing Princeton to pull within eight with seven minutes remaining. Moments later she committed an offensive foul and Soriero pulled her from the game for a few moments. But in spite of Penn's shooting woes, Princeton could pull no closer, as the Tigers' aggressiveness on defense began to backfire. Fouls piled up in massive amounts as Penn went to the line no less than 20 times in the last 10 minutes. Gabriel and Dieterle combined to hit all 17 of their free throws during this time span, and the issue was decided. So in the end, Penn's incredible first half created a hump Princeton never really came close to getting over. Last night's game showed when the Quakers are at their best, they can be unstoppable. But the season would have been a far more pleasant affair if they could have avoided performances such as the one they turned in during the second half. Asked to explain the whole thing, Soriero couldn't. "If I could explain it, our shooting percentage would not be as abysmal as it's been all year," she said. "But thank God?we started out having one of those nights, because look at the second half."
(02/17/94 10:00am)
All the preparations have been completed and the Penn women's basketball team is set to take the floor against Brown. The scouting reports have been put away, the information in them tucked into the back of the players' minds. The motivational speeches are over. It is time for the Quakers to go to work. Actually, the work began a while ago for the 12 Penn players and three coaches. For the past 25 hours, all of their attention has been directed toward this game. The opponent may be one of the toughest the Quakers will play all year, but the team's routine remains the same. It begins around six o'clock the night before the game with the team gathered in a semicircle in the locker room. Penn coach Julie Soriero steps in front of the drawing board in the front of the room and starts taking the team through a six-page scouting report on the Bears. It is the culmination of many hours of work by the coaching staff. In order to acquire the information about Brown each player now holds in her hand, Soriero attended a Brown-Central Connecticut game in January, and the assistant coaches viewed tapes of Bear games against Lafayette and Army. Then the coaches met right before practice to combine their ideas and put it onto paper. During a similar session last year, no copies of the scouting report would have been available to the players. Putting information on the opponents' key players, as well as the plays that Penn can expect to see, into writing is a practice Soriero began just this year. She felt it would increase the confidence of the younger players who might be unable to visualize the intricate plays and sets the opponent would run. "Getting to see a hard copy is much easier than having it run by us verbally in five minutes," senior co-captain Julie Gabriel said. "It's been a great help for the younger players and for preparing for opponents that we don't often get to see." Now it's time for the team to receive its first lesson on just how to go about playing the Bears. It is no more than two minutes into the session when Soriero first mentions the name the players will hear many more times until tipoff: Martina Jerant, Brown's 6-foot-5 giant of a center and reigning Ivy League Player of the Year. The message to the players quickly becomes apparent -- hold down Jerant and you can hold down the rest of the team, defending Ivy champions or not. "She's that good," Soriero said. "But we also generally like to try to have one thing defensively to really key on in practice, and in the scouting report." According to the matchup listed on page three, Jerant will be the responsibility of senior co-captain Katarina Poulsen. In truth, however, the entire team will have to help stop her. After going over Jerant's tendencies, Soriero details her strengths and weaknesses. There are several keys to preventing her from pouring in points. First, Poulsen must keep her away from the low post as much as possible. Second, the forwards and guards must master the help-side and double-down defensive techniques to get as much pressure on her as possible when she has the ball. Finally, as she is prone to biting on shot-fakes, the Quakers can get her up in the air and subsequently onto the bench with foul trouble. Thirty minutes after the team first gathered in the locker room, it is on the court for practice. One drill splits the team into two six-player groups, with one group practicing help-side defense and the other working on the double-down. It is crucial for the Quakers to know when to apply each one to defend Jerant, and also to secure proper position to effectively prevent her from turning around for easy shots. "As soon as the ball comes into the middle and [Jerant] turns to shoot, then it becomes a help-side, because the double-down can't do anything," Soriero tells the team. "But I don't want to end up with three people in on her because she will just shoot over you. Or if we do take it away she's going to find [Brown guard Michelle] Pagliaro on the perimeter, whom we've got to respect as a three-point shooter. And I don't want to get into a situation where we're fouling her and?sending her to the free-throw line so that she can have an all-American night." Twenty minutes of this drill is followed by some shooting exercises, and then the team splits up into two groups of five for a controlled scrimmage. Soriero stops play periodically to inform the players when they are doing something wrong. Just as the action gets under way, the action is halted because Gabriel is staying too close to the Penn player impersonating Brown forward Kathy Hill, whose weak-side rebounding prowess has the potential to be a huge pain for the Quakers. Gabriel is supposed to remain near Hill so she can box her out when the shot goes up. But she must also move closer to the basket when the ball swings to the other side, as dictated by Penn's 2-3 zone defense. "You're not moving over enough," Soriero tells Gabriel. "You have to move with the ball, then recover. You have to shift over and then recover quickly enough when the shot goes up to box her out." The scrimmage ends about 20 minutes later, but not without another lesson from Soriero on how and how not to defense Jerant. Finally, she gathers the team at midcourt. She is pleased with the way the team got open shots during the practice, but is concerned with number of misses. Despite the horrid weather, she says, a snow-out is unlikely. The players should be in early the next evening. Warmups begin at 6 p.m. the next evening. The Quakers take the floor right on schedule the next night, one hour before tipoff, and shoot around for 15 minutes. Then they return to the locker room to begin final preparations. Soriero takes the team through the scouting report in the same fashion as the night before. She throws in new things such as the fact that Brown reserve center Jodi Buckley is out with a knee injury, which will further hamper the Bears' inside game if the Quakers can get Jerant on the bench with foul trouble. But basically, the rhetoric is the same. The main difference is the atmosphere. Last night it was more intellectual, as the team focused on soaking in the X's and O's, but now it is more heated. Each player is psyching herself up for the game. Soriero, in fact, prefers to have the players concentrate on much of the emotional preparation for each game by themselves. "Win one for the Gipper," speeches are not her style. "I would say that it's my responsibility to have my team prepared in a basketball sense, and give them a sense of motivation more based on how I want them to perform than anything else," she said. "You can't be all things to them. As a coach, you have to have a priority." The players do indeed take it upon themselves to get in the right frame of mind for each game. After losing games last weekend to Ivy cellar dwellers Columbia and Cornell, and dropping out of the race for the Ivy League title, there was some fear the team might feel there wasn't much to play for and lose its focus. So a player-only meeting was called in order to come up with a set of goals the team could shoot for. Those goals are now posted on the board in the locker room and include such items as maintaining the Quakers' pattern of home dominance and beating every Ivy League opponent at least once. "We suffered a few losses that we shouldn't have, and we had to make sure they didn't haunt us too much," Gabriel said. "We wanted to reestablish ourselves and stay focused?.With 16 girls in a locker room, we often discuss where we are and where want to go." "I saw it yesterday and I think they're wonderful goals," Soriero is now saying to the team. "But to make them all happen, everybody has to give a little more of themselves than they gave last week." With that, the Quakers huddle in the middle of the room for a chant of "Penn!" before heading out to the floor. Ten minutes of layup drills later, it is time for the opening tip. And right now, just as with each of Penn's other 25 games, it has all come down to this. Soriero's trip to the Brown-Central Connecticut game, the films, the hour the team spent pouring over the scouting report and several hours of practice have all been pointing toward this moment and the approximately two hours that follow. In truth, while these preparations are key, they are not themselves the crux of a successful performance. The Quakers wait until the night before a game to start focusing on their opponent for a reason. They believe the primary focus day in and day out has to be on their own game and their own performance. No matter how great Martina Jerant may be, she is not supposed to be the foremost thing on the minds of the players. "Preparing some special things for the opponent and learning their strengths and weaknesses is helpful," junior guard Shelly Bowers said. "But we have to concentrate on ourselves as much as anything. What we want to accomplish is to play our game for 40 minutes with confidence and good execution. If you do that, you're going to win."
(02/14/94 10:00am)
There is at least one team that is thankful for the Ivy League's policy of playing two consecutive games each weekend. After suffering the most heartbreaking of defeats Friday night against defending Ivy champion Brown, the Penn women's basketball team did not stay down for long. The Quakers rebounded the next night with perhaps their strongest performance of the season, a 71-55 victory over a solid Yale team. First the bad news. Penn (6-13, 2-5 Ivy League) missed a golden opportunity Friday to upset a team picked to win the Ivies again. After a helter-skelter final 30 seconds of play, junior guard Katina Banks found herself at the foul line for a one-and-one in the ultimate pressure situation -- one second remaining and Brown leading 58-57. Banks was unable to convert the front end, and Brown (11-7, 5-1) grabbed the rebound and narrowly avoided what would have been a stunning defeat. "I was thinking that I've done this a thousand times," Banks said. "Just relax and take a breath. I was thinking that if I made the first we would be tied and that if I hit both, chances were pretty good that we would win. I think maybe I was thinking too far ahead." The main reason Penn was in position to win the game with one second remaining was that 6-foot-5 Bear center Martina Jerant, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, had one of the worst outings of her career offensively. Her biggest problem was the three fouls she picked up in the game's first eight minutes. The fouls forced Jerant to the bench for the remainder of the half, which ended with Penn leading 29-28. And when she returned, she couldn't generate any offense against the Quaker zone defense. Penn senior center Katarina Poulsen blocked three of her shots and helped limit her to zero points from the field, and only three overall. "We did a nice job in our zone," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "I think we did a nice job containing the inside, but also extending and pressuring on the outside so that the pass to her was difficult. I don't think she saw the ball that much. But the Quakers were unable to take advantage of Jerant's off-night, as their inside players struggled as well. Junior forward Shelly Dieterle had only six points, and while Poulsen had 11, she missed several easy shots in the second half that would have allowed the Quakers to pad their lead while Brown was making a charge to go ahead. "When you're working hard to get the ball in the paint, you shouldn't miss the shot," Poulsen said. The outside shooting of Banks and junior guard Shelly Bowers, who combined for 34 points, kept Penn ahead for most of the second half. Then a series of Quaker miscues allowed the Bears to score five straight points to take a 56-52 lead. But Penn battled back and reclaimed the lead at 57-56 when Banks got underneath the basket and put back a missed shot. Brown sophomore forward Kjersetn Boschen put the Bears back ahead on a layup with 25 seconds to play. The Quakers' ensuing possession resulted in a turnover, and they had to foul Jerant with 10 seconds left. But she missed the first shot of the one-and-one. Poulsen grabbed the rebound, but threw the ball away. With the Quakers out of timeouts, all the Bears had to do was run the clock out to secure the victory. But Banks knocked the ball away from Brown guard Michelle Pagliaro. She grabbed possession, was fouled near midcourt with one second left, and went to the line for the shot that decided the game. Although the shot from the charity stripe fell short, Banks and the Quakers would redeem themselves Saturday against Yale, which entered the game in second place in the league. The Elis (11-7, 3-3) were coming off their biggest win of the season, during which they handed Dartmouth its first league defeat, but they were not nearly the same team against Penn. This in spite of the fact that Yale had a distinct advantage in the fatigue department -- the Elis' scheduled game at Princeton the night before was cancelled while the Quakers were struggling through the physically and emotionally draining game against Brown. "That's been the earmark of this team and this program," Soriero said. "They've bounced back from some very tough opponents all year and also from some very disappointing losses. That's the expectation they have for themselves and that's certainly the expectation I have for them." Even though the score was close for much of the contest, Penn always seemed to be in control. With most of the Quakers struggling from the field, senior forward Julie Gabriel scored 11 first-half points to give Penn a 29-26 lead at the intermission. Gabriel's early firepower was all the Quakers needed, because aside from all-Ivy player Mary Kalich, who scrapped and scraped for 16 points, Yale was unable to get anything going on the offensive end throughout the game. The 2-3 zone defense Penn employed for much of the game limited Yale to a putrid 27 percent from the field, and also helped the Quakers reduce the rebounding deficit they suffered Friday. Brown outrebounded Penn 54-30, but Yale's advantage was only 56-51. Gabriel got 15 of Penn's boards against Yale, to go with 15 points. Penn's biggest scares were a result of foul trouble. Gabriel picked up her fourth five minutes into the second half, and Poulsen received her fourth eight minutes later. But Banks, who had shot poorly during the first half, began to find the range. She scored eight straight points when Gabriel was on the bench to increase a three-point lead to nine. Then, moments after Gabriel returned and Poulsen had to take a seat, Yale was within seven when the ball came to Gabriel in the right corner. She hoisted a three-pointer that went in just as Yale forward Bari Porter was called for a foul on Bowers away from the ball. Though Bowers missed the opportunity for the five-point play, the series gave Penn a 10-point lead, and sapped all the energy from the Elis. "That was the turning-point play," Soriero said. "Even though [Bowers] missed the free throws, it was a big play for what it said -- the determination that the entire team had." From there the Quakers coasted to the 16-point win, with Banks tallying a career-high 22 points. And now they are left to channel the momentum this weekend should provide them. "It shows the league, and it also shows ourselves, that we're a much better team than we were last weekend [against Columbia and Cornell]," Gabriel said. "We just have to take this intensity through the rest of our games."
(02/03/94 10:00am)
There had to be a few anxious moments for the Penn women's basketball team during the first half of its win over Lehigh Monday night at the Palestra when senior center Katarina Poulsen picked up her third foul and joined junior forward Shelly Dieterle, who also had three fouls, on the bench. It looked like trouble for the Quakers when their two main inside players were forced to take an extended break. The situation appeared especially grim because of the replacements Penn brought in when Poulsen took a seat. Penn coach Julie Soriero turned to freshmen Nicki Pozzi, Amanda Coulter and Amy Tarr, who between them had scored eight points over the course of the entire season. Not only did the Quakers survive with Poulsen and Dieterle on the bench, they prospered, pushing a 24-20 lead to 37-26 before Lehigh closed the gap to 39-32 as the teams went into the locker room. The freshmen did little to pad their statistics, but what was noteworthy was the significant amount of playing time they received. Together they saw 19 minutes of action in the game. The result was a first for the Quakers this season -- they were able to go deeper into their bench than their opponent, using nine players to Lehigh's eight. The play of Penn's bench, which was called into question when it was outscored 18-5 by Princeton's reserves in a loss to the Tigers this past Saturday, appeared to be more a benefit than a drawback against the Engineers. The Quakers hope over the next few games they will be able to develop their bench play even further, so they will have a chance of being as deep as the Yales and Browns of the world when the season enters the home stretch. "Getting other players involved is going to boost their confidence and make them feel like they can contribute as well," junior guard Shelly Bowers said. "I think we're going to utilize that down the stretch?especially with the way our schedule is -- doubleheaders every weekend." · Pozzi's play against Lehigh must have been especially pleasing for Soriero, who is desperately searching for someone to play quality minutes inside now that freshman Deana Lewis, the former backup center, is out for the season with a knee injury. Seeing her first important playing time of the season after being out with a serious knee injury of her own, Pozzi made several key plays to help keep the Engineers at bay during the latter part of the first half. "I think she just did a real nice job," Soriero said. "She didn't try too hard to do anything we didn't ask her to do. She played within herself and gave us good minutes." Pozzi is trying to write one of those remarkable comeback stories. In the last high school game of her career, she suffered one of the most dreaded injuries in sports when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament of her left knee. She spent the first part of this season rehabilitating, and finally started practicing after Winter Break. After seeing minimal action against Harvard and Lafayette, Pozzi spelled Poulsen with seven minutes remaining in the first half against Lehigh and netted her first points of the season on a layup with 19 seconds left before intermission. She also grabbed four big rebounds and generally looked mobile. Pozzi is confident that eventually she will be able to fill the shoes of Lewis, who was just coming on as a player when she got injured. "I still have a lot of work to do to fill what [Lewis] did," Pozzi said. "Sometimes I'm too hard on myself, but that pushes me to do more. Eventually my confidence will definitely come back. In practice it's been kind of a scary thing thinking about the injury, but then you forget about that and just play." · If the Quakers gave out a team MVP award today, the likely recipient would be senior co-captain Julie Gabriel. Long known for her defensive ability, Gabriel has taken it upon herself to do more scoring this year and has developed into perhaps the best all-around performer on the team. Since competing in a tournament in Florida during Winter Break, she has averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds per game while remaining a top defender. She can play at either forward position as well as the two-guard spot. More often than not she plays the entire 40 minutes each game, a welcome sight for a team that has had depth problems this season. "She's always been our most consistent and aggressive defensive player and it's wonderful this year to see the offense come to life," Soriero said. "She epitomizes what a good leader should be both on and off the floor and I couldn't ask for anything more from her." For her part, Gabriel sees her stepped-up play this season as much a result of necessity as anything else. "I like to play as much as I can because it's frustrating to be on the bench," Gabriel said. "In the past I took a backseat but this year I couldn't do that. It was a little more vital for me to play well offensively."
(01/28/94 10:00am)
There comes a time for every up-and-coming team when it gets the opportunity to find out just how far it has come, and just how far it has to go. For the Penn women's basketball team that time is now. The importance of tomorrow's game against Princeton goes beyond the fierce rivalry that marks all Quaker-Tiger games. Both teams have dreams of being contenders in the race for the Ivy League championship, and this contest could go a long way toward determining if either squad can meet that goal. "Everybody knows that Penn and Princeton are really competitive teams this year," Penn senior co-captain Katarina Poulsen said. "If we win, it really sets a tone and sends a message to the rest of the Ivy League. It would give the team a lot of confidence if we win." Winning will be easier said than done, however, as the Tigers (8-6, 1-1 Ivy League) have been on a huge roll of late. After starting the season 0-4, Princeton has roared back with an 8-2 record over its last ten games. The Tigers' one Ivy League victory was a 69-56 rout of Harvard, a team Penn also defeated handily. This past Monday, Princeton showed no signs of rust from a 16-day layoff for exams as it trounced a good Rider team. The biggest reason for the Tigers' turnaround has been the return of senior guard and captain Laura Leacy. Leacy, who went down with an ankle injury in the first game of the season, did not fully recover until the fourth game. Since returning from her injury, she has been named Ivy player of the week twice. The reasons why are apparent. She leads the team with 13.3 points per game and also contributes 3.2 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest. Leacy is also the team's top defender. "She has a huge impact, especially because we are such a young team," Princeton assistant coach Sue Johnson said. "She is a truly complete player. As she goes, we go." While Penn (4-9, 1-1) knows it won't be able to completely contain Leacy, it is confident no one player can win a game. From the Quakers' point of view, the best way to render Leacy ineffective is to take her teammates out of the game. "She's going to make good decisions with the basketball, that's a given," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "It's when she gives it up, what are we going to do to prevent the ball from getting back in her hands or challenge the person she gave it to?" Penn's problem is the younger Princeton players -- 10 Tigers are freshmen or sophomoresE-- have developed to the point that Leacy is by no means the only Tiger capable of making contributions. Princeton's inside game features four solid post players, all with different strengths. Senior Tina Smith averages 10 points and six rebounds per game at center. Sophomores Deb Smith and Kim Curry alternate at power forward, and together average 12 points and nine rebounds. Not only does Princeton's depth down low give it a strong inside-outside game, but it will put heavy pressure on Poulsen and Penn junior forward Shelly Dieterle. With the Quakers' corps of reserve power players seriously depleted as a result of the season-ending knee injury to backup center Deana Lewis, Poulsen and Dieterle must be careful to stay out of foul trouble. The height advantage, however, goes to 6-3 Poulsen, who is taller than any Princeton player. "We have to make adjustments during the course of the game," Soriero said. "They might have numbers, but I think we have more experience." The Tigers' biggest strength does not lie in Leacy's ability to control the game on the offensive end or in their strength inside. Instead, it is a defense that ranks 18th in the nation and has topped the Ivy League for four years running. Princeton's defense is predicated on a player-to-player system. It excels in getting into the passing lanes and tangling teams up in a slower pace that prevents them from having quick, easy shots on the perimeter. The Tigers' defense would therefore seem ideally suited to limit Penn's production offensively, as the Quakers rely on long-range shots from senior captain Julie Gabriel and junior guards Katina Banks and Shelly Bowers for much of their offensive firepower. But Penn does not plan to change its style of play regardless. "It is something we're aware of, but we're not going to totally adjust our game for their defense," Gabriel said. "We'll just try to step it up on defense and score more than them." That, after all, is the way to win any game. Princeton thinks it is much improved over the team that beat Penn twice last year, but the Quakers know they are nowhere near the same team they were then. They point to their eight-point win over Temple earlier in the season as evidence. In contrast, last year the Owls won by 29. "Last year's history," Gabriel said. "We're smarter and more mature. It doesn't feel the same as it did when we played them last year. It feels better." Just how much better Penn has become will be answered over the rest of the season. But tomorrow's game should provide a pretty good clue.
(01/18/94 10:00am)
If it wasn't already in dire straits, the Penn women's basketball team was rapidly approaching that point as the second half of last night's game against Lafayette got underway. Thanks to their inside-outside combination of center Chris Sieling and guard Heidi Caruso, the Leopards had scored seemingly at will against a lifeless Penn defense that was outhustled and outplayed at virtually every position -- Lafayette was shooting an excellent 56.3 percent from the field, with Sieling and Caruso scoring a combined 25 points as the Leopards raced to a 38-23 lead going into the intermission. To say the roof then caved in on Lafayette's offense would not be accurate because that implies the Leopards' second-half offensive woes were primarily a result of their own self-destruction. Instead, they were mostly due to Penn's stepped-up play on the defensive end, an improvement that was stimulated by a switch from man-to-man to zone defense, as well as a sizeable increase in the Quakers' intensity throughout the second 20 minutes. During the first half, it looked like deja vu for Penn, as Sieling looked every bit as strong as she did in scoring 25 points to lead Lafayette to a 75-62 win over the Quakers last season. Sieling scored 15 first-half points last night, converting three offensive rebounds into layups and hitting jumpers from as far out as 14 feet. Senior center and co-captain Katarina Poulsen seemed helpless to stop her despite a two-inch height advantage. Meanwhile, Penn was having trouble getting out quickly enough to stop the sharpshooting Caruso, who scored six straight points to increase the Leopard lead to 11. First she hit from 13- and 17-feet out, and then she stole the ball from Penn junior guard Shelly Bowers and eventually converted the turnover into a nifty layup and a 25-14 Lafayette lead. Going into the second half, Penn could have simply rolled over and allowed the favored Leopards to breeze to the victory that seemed inevitable. But the Quakers had too much pride to allow that to happen. And too good a defense. Last Tuesday against Temple, Penn won the game with a 16-0 run to open the contest that saw Temple unable to run anything resembling an offense. And before that, 10 days ago against Harvard, Penn's stifling defense held the Crimson to a paltry 35-percent shooting as the Quakers romped to a 22-point win. But Penn may have topped both those efforts with a performance that saw Lafayette limited to six points in the first 13:32 of the second half. The benefits of the switch to a 2-3 zone Penn coach Julie Soriero installed during the halftime break were immediately apparent -- Seiling scored just five points on 1 for 8 shooting from the field. The other Leopards fared no better than Sieling, as the entire team shot just 21 percent (6 for 28) during the second half. Two steals by junior guard Katina Banks helped chop the Leopard lead to 38-31 just four minutes into the second half. Caruso was having trouble penetrating with the 2-3 swarming around her, and Banks continued to have success stealing the ball on the perimeter. Her fifth steal of the half led to a three-point play by senior co-captain Julie Gabriel that tied the score at 44, the first time the game was tied since the the opening tipoff. "We did a better job of pressuring them when they had the ball," Soriero said. "We challenged them well and forced them into plays they might not have wanted to make." When Gabriel tied the score, almost 14 minutes had gone by, and the shellshocked Leopards had scored a grand total of six points. Lafayette would regroup to score 11 points during the remainder of regulation, but by the time it did the Quakers had too much momentum to be stopped. So what was the key to the dramatic turnaround that occurred in the second half? Was it the switch to the 2-3? Or was it a matter of just playing harder and smarter? "It was both," Soriero said. "When you're trailing by 15 at the end of the half, you obviously need to make some changes. I thought the 2-3 helped us pick up our intensity at the start [of the second half], and that carried over to our play during the rest of the game."
(12/10/93 10:00am)
There isn't much doubt about it – the Penn women's basketball team is at a crossroads as it prepares to take on the Delaware tomorrow night at the Palestra (7 p.m.). The game is the last for the 0-5 Quakers for 16 days, so if they are to reverse their trend of coming up short and enter the crux of their schedule with any sort of momentum, this game is the time to do it. "This game is going to set the tone for how we come out next semester," Penn assistant coach Tina Costello said. "Delaware is comparable to other teams we will be meeting in the Ivy League, so this is a big test for us. We need to meet the challenge." Penn's biggest challenge tomorrow night is to avoid the lapses that have been the prime cause of most of its defeats. Against St. Joseph's two nights ago, the Quakers stayed right with the favored Hawks for most of the contest, but went scoreless for the final eight minutes as St. Joe's pulled away to win by 12. Any kind of repeat of that performance against the Fightin' Blue Hens will undoubtedly spell the Quakers' downfall. Perhaps the surest way for Penn to play a complete 40-minute game is to work a majority of the players into the flow of the offense. Against St. Joe's, senior center and co-captain Katarina Poulsen and junior guard Shelly Bowers combined for 35 of the team's 41 points. The Quakers need more players to step up offensively and take good shots to prevent the offense from stalling as it has at times during previous games. This may be easier said than done against Delaware's attacking, man-to-man defense, which is predicated on forcing the opponent into turnovers that lead to fast-break opportunities. "They're going to try to put a little pressure on us and try to get us to turn the ball over," Costello said. "We need to play within ourselves and execute a little bit more [than against St. Joseph's]. We need to take the good shot opportunities and just put more into our offense." While the Quakers will look to maximize their scoring ability by getting as many people involved as possible, the fact is that Poulsen may again be their best bet offensively. Despite having several players standing six feet or taller, Delaware has no one with any experience who can match up with the 6-3 Poulsen. Sending the ball down low frequently will also keep the ball away from the Blue Hens' pestering guards. The inside game should be key to Penn on defense as well, since Delaware will be looking to go there often. Its two leading scorers are center Merel van Zaten (16.0 points per game) and power forward Colleen McNamara (12.3). If the Quakers can produce the same unyielding inside defense that they did two nights ago, when St. Joe's two starting inside players were held scoreless, the Blue Hens may be forced to rely on their backcourt. That is a scenario that Penn would like to see occur, as Delaware's guards are not known for their shooting prowess or their ability to drive to the basket and create shots via penetration. While a win may not be in the cards even if all of these facets fall into place for Penn, the Quakers feel they can achieve a sort of victory even if they don't come away with a win. Penn thinks it is good enough to at least make a game out of tomorrow night's contest, and a strong all-around performance will be enough to convince the team that it has what it takes to be competitive when Ivy League play gets underway in about a month. "I think we need to do the things we're capable of doing and hope things go well," Costello said. "I'm not predicting a 'W,' but I think we can be in the ballgame."
(12/09/93 10:00am)
Offense vanishes in 53-41 loss Showing that even new habits are hard to break, the Penn women's basketball team followed the same path to disappointing defeat last night against St. Joseph's that it has followed in every game during the first part of the 1993 season. The Quakers (0-2 Big 5, 0-5overall ) turned in a very strong showing against the favored Hawks (2-0, 3-1) for the majority of the game at Temple's McGonigle Hall. But they allowed that performance to be overshadowed by a complete offensive breakdown during the game's latter stages that let St. Joseph's to pull away for the 53-41 victory. With a little less than eight minutes remaining in the contest, Penn was trailing the Hawks by just three, 44-41, due mostly to a stellar defensive effort that limited St. Joe's starting five to a combined 16 points. But the Hawks' lack of offense to that point was nothing compared to the drought that was about to hit the Quakers, as Penn went scoreless for the remainder of the game. Even after a turnover by freshman point guard Erica McCauley led to a clutch three-pointer by St. Joe's guard Megan Compain that gave the Hawks a 49-41 lead, Penn still had more than three minutes to try to make up the deficit. But the only things the Quakers were able to generate on the offensive end during the next few minutes were a shot by senior co-captain Katarina Poulsen that was blocked by Compain and a travelling call on senior captain Julie Gabriel. By then St. Joseph's had stretched its lead to 10, and all Penn could do was foul as time ran out on the Quakers' eighth-straight Big 5 loss. "We were taking shots and not converting, and we were also not taking the shots when we should have," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "At the end of the game, it's a matter of exhausted players not doing the things they need to do to create shot opportunities." The Quakers were not exactly lighting things up offensively earlier in the game either, but they were able to stay right with the Hawks thanks in large part to the performances of Poulsen and junior guard Shelly Bowers, who scored 18 and 17 points respectively. Bowers led the Quakers in the first half with 10 points while playing all 20 minutes, and Poulsen kept Penn in the game during the start of the second half, hitting key baskets whenever it seemed as if St. Joseph's was about to pull away. The problem with the fact that Poulsen and Bowers combined for 35 points was that the entire Penn team only scored 41. Gabriel, fellow forward junior Shelly Dieterle and junior guard Katina Banks shot a combined 0-for-10 from the field. Just as troubling to the Quakers as the poor shooting percentage is the fact that the trio only averaged about three shots apiece. "It is a concern – I can't figure it out," Gabriel said. "We need to do a better job of getting the open shot. It was two of the best games Kat and Shelly have played all year, but the rest of us are going to have to step up more." Penn's overall inability to execute its halfcourt game spoiled its effectiveness in fighting off the Hawks' vaunted full-court press. When a team is able to break the press as successfully as the Quakers did up until the end of the game, it is supposed to have easy chances for baskets. Penn hardly was ever able to convert those opportunities. "We did a great job against the press but we didn't attack as well as we could have," Bowers said. "Once we got past it we couldn't get anything going. We didn't look to pass enough." The bright spot for the Quakers as a whole was undoubtedly their defense. In addition to leading the team in scoring, Poulsen keyed a defense that almost completely shut down the Hawks' inside game. Forward Audrey Codner, St. Joseph's leading scorer, was held to zero points, as was center Cindy Jakubowicz. While reserve Tonya Wenger did score 14 points inside, most of those came against Penn reserve players. Compain added 15 from outside, including three treys, but aside from those two no other Hawk could get anything going offensively. But all the sweat and tears expended by the Quakers on defense went for naught because of their problems on the other end of the floor. "Defensively we did a really great job," Soriero said. "But it's a matter of putting everything together. Against St. Joseph's, against that level of competition, no matter what else you do you can't be successful when you have lapses like we had."
(12/02/93 10:00am)
On October 29, the Columbia men's soccer team waltzed onto Lourie-Love Field and in one fell swoop apparently spoiled what had been a dream ride of a season for the Princeton Tigers. Columbia's 3-1 win over favored Princeton meant that the Lions and Tigers would tie for the Ivy League championship with 6-1 records. But the head-to-head tiebreaker went to Columbia, and hence it was the Lions who received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Columbia would be going to the Big Dance, and it looked like Princeton might not be going anywhere. What a difference a month makes. On November 28, twenty-nine days after the Columbia defeat, the Tigers (13-4) advanced to the tournament's Final Four, the first time in their history they have made it that far and the first time for any Ivy team since 1987. Princeton's journey encompassed three wins and included victories over the Lions and Hartwick, teams that had been responsible for two of the Tigers' four defeats during the regular season. The highlight to this point – perhaps the biggest win in team history – was a stunning second-round 5-2 upset of Penn State, which had been seeded fourth in the 24-team field. But none of it would have been possible without a little help from the NCAA, which looked at Princeton's impressive record and schedule and decided that the Tigers were worthy of an at-large bid. Furthermore, it gave Princeton just what it wanted by placing the Tigers in the draw right next to Columbia, setting up a rematch between the Ivy co-champions on November 14. Princeton was intent on not letting this golden opportunity for revenge slip past, and it didn't. In the first meeting of the teams, Rikki Dadason, the Lions' Ivy League Player of the Year, had gone ballistic, scoring all three of Columbia's goals to give his team the victory. The second time around, however, Princeton's defense smothered Dadason and prevented him from getting anything going. No other Lion was able to pick up the slack, and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Princeton midfielder Andre Parris notched his fifth goal of the year in addition to a pretty assist to send the Tigers into the second round. "[Dadason] is easily one of the top three or four players in the country right now," defenseman Drew Mickel said. "We were keying on him and we knew if we could get the ball to our halfbacks, they could do something." But even after ridding itself of that regular season scourge, Princeton had absolutely no time to rest. Powerhouse Penn State was coming to town, and the Nittany Lions' awesome record made it clear that they were not the tournament's fourth seed for nothing. Against a team of that caliber, it was imperative for that the Tigers take advantage of every opportunity. So the fact that they trailed 2-1 early in the second half despite out-shooting Penn State 6-4 may have been cause for some concern. If there was any anxiety, however, it was short-lived, as Princeton exploded for four goals in the final 25 minutes while the shocked Nittany Lions could seemingly do no more than stand by and watch. Parris came through again with a goal and three assists, giving him a Princeton-record 10 assists for the year. After thumping mighty Penn State, the Tigers must have felt extremely confident about hosting Hartwick last Sunday in a quarterfinal showdown. Not only were they on the verge of a Final Fourth berth, but the game was another opportunity to avenge a regular season setback. The Warriors had upended Princeton 2-1 in the Tigers' home opener, but just as it did against Columbia and Dadason, Princeton remembered its mistakes and learned from them. That wasn't all that evident during the first two-thirds of the game, however, as the teams battled to a 0-0 standstill. "It was what I thought a playoff game should be," Princeton Coach Bob Bradley said. "A hard-fought 0-0 game where one play either way can make a difference." That one play came with 16 minutes remaining when a Hartwick player blasted senior captain Joe Thieman in the head with a forearm and was given a yellow card. While Hartwick seemed stunned by this blatant incident of unnecessary roughness, the Tigers rebounded with newfound energy and vigor. With three goals in the final 15 minutes, including two by leading scorer Jacob Dowden, Princeton blew by the Warriors and right into the promised land – Davidson, North Carolina and the Final Four. Awaiting the Tigers tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Davidson, however, is one of the very best teams in the nation. Ranked third in the nation, Virginia is the two-time defending national champion and features perhaps the best player in the country in Claudio Reyna. Coming up short against one of the nation's elite in the Final Four would do nothing at all to dampen Princeton's remarkable season, particularly considering that it wasn't even sure it would get a tournament bid. But the Tigers are not thinking about coming up short. "It's great to go to the Final Four, but we still have two games left," midfielder Thad McBride said. "Now that we're there, we have a great chance of winning the national championship." The Daily Princetonian contributed to this story.
(11/30/93 10:00am)
Penn falls 92-66 to Virginia Should the Penn women's basketball team happen to find itself in the NCAA tournament come March, it will have to find a way to play better than it did in Saturday's opening game 92-66 loss to 10th-ranked Virginia in Charlottesville. That fact, however, is not on the Quakers' minds right now. Rather, they prefer to look at the strong performance they turned in against one of the very best programs in the country as proof that reaching the NCAAs by winning the Ivy League is not as farfetched as it might appear to be. Surprisingly, Penn (0-1) was able to stay within striking distance through most of the first half. The tide began to turn when the Cavaliers (2-0) used an 8-0 spurt to take a 15-point lead that became 49-36 at intermission. If the Quakers were going to have a chance, they would have had to come out strong to start the second half. Instead, their play was shoddy, as they turned the ball over four times and committed four fouls while Virginia pushed its lead to 20. If the outcome wasn't decided before, it was then. "Virginia is too strong a team physically and the way they play the game?for us to give them four opportunities like that when they're sitting on a 13-point lead," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "We kept giving the ball back and eventually they'll find some way to create something on offense." One Cavalier who didn't need any help from the Quakers to create on the offensive end was forward Wendy Palmer, who controlled the outsized and overmatched Penn frontcourt with game-highs of 28 points and 13 rebounds. This performance followed a week in which Palmer did not practice at all because of a sprained knee; her decision to play came just prior to tipoff. "I'd hate to see what she would have done if she were healthy," Soriero said. "She's an exceptional player. She can score in the paint in a lot of different ways." The same also could have been said on Saturday for reserve Cavalier center Jeffra Gausephol, whose appearance turned out to have a double-concussive effect on the Quakers. Not only did Gausephol light up Penn for 22 points (including 10 of 10 from the foul line), but she helped cause Quaker center Katarina Poulsen (7 points, 4 rebounds, 22 minutes) to miss time in the second half due to foul trouble. The difference between the two teams was never clearer than when Poulsen had to take a seat and the Quakers brought in 6-0 freshman center Deana Lewis (6 points, 5 rebounds), playing in her first intercollegiate game, to go against Gausephol, the Cavs' 6-6 reserve in the middle. "If I were asked where our glaring weakness was, it would have to be our depth inside," Soriero said. "When [Poulsen] is in foul trouble we don't have the experience that Virginia has." All in all, Penn was pleased with an effort that saw it play the Cavs evenly the majority of the time. With the exception of the two spurts sandwiched around halftime and another one during garbage time in which Virginia pushed the lead up from 20, the two teams more or less played to a standstill. And aside from Poulsen, who struggled with foul problems, the Quakers' entire starting five made major point contributions. Junior guards Shelly Bowers (13 points) and Katina Banks (10 points) and senior forward Julie Gabriel (13 points, 11 rebounds) kept Penn within striking distance during the first half, and their effectiveness outside opened things up for the Quakers' inside game in the second half. Junior power forward Shelly Dieterle scored 10 of her 14 points after halftime. Following this spirited effort against a top-flight program in front of 5,000 fans, Penn believes that there is much it can take away from this game that will help it in future battles. No other opponent on the team's schedule will be as strong as the Cavaliers, and if Poulsen avoids foul trouble and the rest of the team turns in a similar performance, the Quakers think they can go far this season. "We all took a lot away from this game," Poulsen said. "We saw what we can do, and now we have to try to build on it. Playing against a team like Virginia gives you a lot of confidence. Right now we're real positive." · Penn's first opportunity to build on the Virginia game comes tonight when it travels to Villanova to take on La Salle in the first game of a Big 5 doubleheader (6 p.m.) Playing against the youthful Explorers in La Salle's season opener will provide Penn with a good opportunity to gain its first Big Five win beating Temple 1991. The Explorers are the defending Big 5 champions.
(11/17/93 10:00am)
Remembering a turbulent off-season that saw the resignation of former men's soccer coach Steve Baumann followed by the hiring of interim coach George O'Neill just a few weeks prior to the start of the season, the Athletic Department is currently undertaking the search for a full-time coach with hopes of completing the process as quickly and efficiently as possible. A four-man internal search committee has been formed by the Athletic Department to sort through the approximately 90 applications received by the November 10 deadline. According to Associate Athletic Director Skip Jarocki, the committee is looking for a candidate with head-coaching experience and knowledge of Ivy League soccer, and one who is a skilled recruiter and has good communication abilities. O'Neill, who coached the team to a record of 5-10 this season (1-6 in the Ivy League), is one of the candidates, and is scheduled for an interview later this week. Jarocki said that the enormity of the search for a new coach is in no way a reflection on O'Neill's performance, but is instead based on University policy that requires that applications be received from anyone who is interested in a job vacancy. The committee plans to use input from team members, particularly outgoing seniors, in making its decision. Team support for O'Neill is virtually anonymous. "He has a wealth of soccer experience," senior ex-captain Mike Gomez said. "He's played at the highest level possible. There aren't too many people looking for a job right now who can match his knowledge." "He's a very positive guy and that's been something that's been missing in previous years," senior Kossouth Bradford said. "He knows the game and he should definitely be able to get the program on the winning track." The committee was initially looking at December 1 as a selection deadline but has pushed the date back to the end of December because of the size of the applicant pool. The goal, according to Jarocki, is to hire a coach early enough so as not to lose anything as far as recruiting. But many affiliated with the team feel that the program's ability to recruit players is damaged with each passing day, and that the best thing would be to name O'Neill coach and finish with the entire process. "They're already a little late if they don't have a feeling of who the coach is going to be," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "It's very hard to recruit when the first question you're asked is who's going to be the coach. We're trying to get good players but the circumstances aren't working out for us." Another of the team's concerns is that if a new coach is brought in, next year's junior class will have had three coaches in three years and it is difficult to be successful with that much instability. Even though the Quakers enjoyed playing for O'Neill this year, they spent much of the season scrambling to adapt to the new strategies and philosophies he brought with him. This period of adjustment played a part in the Quakers' poor record, and the team will probably have to go through the same thing all over again if a new coach is hired. "If I'm a junior next year and a new coach is brought in, my career will be almost over before I'll have had any choice to prove myself," Kammersgaard said. "They need to give [O'Neill] a chance to prove himself." For his part, O'Neill would love to have that chance. From day one he has taken the attitude that he is going to be around for more than just this season. "I told the team on the very first day that I wanted to do the job on a full-time basis," O'Neill said. "I told them I wasn't going to come in this year and just go through the motions?I love being around people who enjoy the game and helping them to be better soccer players, and I definitely would like to be hired full-time."
(11/05/93 10:00am)
Men can play spoiler against NCAA hopefuls After this weekend, there won't be any more opportunities for the Penn men's soccer team to "bounce back," as it has thought it would be able to do after disheartening defeats throughout this 1993 season. At the conclusion of this rare two-game weekend, the Quakers will have all off-season to think about their season of disappointment. Or, if they have their way, they will be basking in the glow of one or two monumental upsets. Penn (1-4 Ivy League, 5-8 overall) will wrap up its season on Sunday in a game against Dartmouth (1-4, 8-5) at Rhodes Field (11 a.m.) that could determine whether the Big Green make the NCAA tournament. But while that game may not be the farthest thing from the Quakers' minds right now, it is certainly not the closest. That's because Penn has a Homecoming date with Ivy co-leader Princeton (5-1, 9-4) tomorrow (11 a.m., same place) in a game that will help decide the league championship. A Tiger win combined with a Columbia loss to Dartmouth tomorrow will give Princeton the title all to itself. As for the Quakers, they can't wait to try to play the role of spoiler. "We've got two very good teams coming here and we have a chance to be part of determining the Ivy League championship," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "That could be a lot of fun." Against a high-octane Tiger offense that has averaged more than four goals a game in its 13 contests thus far, it is imperative for the Quakers to avoid the defensive errors that have been costing them games throughout the season. Penn must make sure that its midfielders get back on defense in time to help out and that all of its defensemen do a better job of marking their Tiger counterparts. "The first thing we have to do is stop giving up a lot of goals," junior defenseman Mike Leo said. "We have to avoid mental breakdowns. We can't be in a situation where we have to score five goals to win the game." In fact, since beating up on weaklings Lehigh and Lafayette early in the season, the Quakers haven't been able to score any more than one or two goals. Penn will be looking to convert opportunities whenever they arise, as failure to do so has been another aspect of the Quakers' play that has plagued them of late. If Penn is to match skills with the Tigers offensively, it needs to have possession of the ball for a significant portion of the game. That means taking care of the ball and not surrendering it via silly mistakes, as the Quakers have been prone to do this season. Win or lose tomorrow, Penn will have little if any time to dwell on its performance, as it will have to rest up and do some quick homework in preparation for the next morning's contest against Dartmouth. Once again, the opponent would appear to have the motivational edge over the Quakers, as the Big Green will likely be playing for a postseason berth if they can upset Ivy co-leader Columbia the day before. Further putting Penn at a disadvantage will be the style of Dartmouth's attack, which is the exact opposite of Princeton's. While the Tigers prefer a methodical attack centered around precision passing, the Big Green like to push the ball upfield at a hectic pace and simply try to outrun the opponent. Penn hopes that it will not be so physically and emotionally fatigued from the previous day's game that it will not be able to withstand Dartmouth's furious attack. "We're just going to have to suck it up," Leo said. "It's the last game of the season. We can rest afterwards." In truth, Penn should have the advantage in the fatigue department. Even though the Quakers have to play two games in a row against difficult competition, the Big Green will have to journey to New York to face Columbia tomorrow before booking it down to Philadelphia to take on the Quakers. All in all, Penn coach George O'Neill expects any effects either team might experience from the previous day's games to cancel out. "Is it ideal?" he said of playing two days in a row. "No, but that's just the way things fell. All things are going to equal out. You just do the best you can to the best of your abilities. If we get our guys to play up to their performance, we can win the game." And finish a somewhat bitter season on a very sweet note.
(10/28/93 9:00am)
The Yale football team's 1992 Ivy League record of 2-5 left the entire team upset and disgruntled. There was one player, however, who may have been more frustrated than all the rest. That person is senior quarterback Steve Mills, and he's doing everything he can to turn things around in order to make his 1993 season one to remember. And, by all accounts, he's succeeding. Mills suffered a separated shoulder in last year's 13-10 Halloween Day loss to Penn that sidelined him for one game and allowed him only limited action in the next two, but that hardly begins to tell his tale of woe last year. Mills never was able to get a grip on the Elis' "I-bone" offense, a variation of the wishbone that features three backs and one wide receiver. The coaches eventually decided that their best bet was to split time at the position between Mills and classmate Chris Hetherington, and the result was a good deal of shuttling in and out of games that further prevented Mills from getting in sync with the offense. By season's end he had thrown only three touchdown passes in nine games. The entire offense struggled along with Mills, scoring just 20 points over the final three games as Hetherington had a hard time picking up the slack in the wake of Mills's injury. It was around this time that Yale coach Carm Cozza and his assistants realized that Mills had to be their man, and that if he was ever to become the quarterback he had the potential to be, the Eli coaching staff had to make some changes. It instituted an offense that resembled the Houston Oilers more than the Elis of 1992, with one back and four receivers. Just as the coaches figured, the offense has become a perfect fit for Mills. "Last year [Mills] was trying to feel his way around, but this year he's hitting on all cylinders," Cozza said. "He's more comfortable in what we're doing – he feels more comfortable in the offense. We're utilizing what he does best and that's throw the ball." Statistics often don't tell the whole story, but one need look no further than Mills's numbers to see how much he has improved this season. Mills has already far surpassed his performance last year in just about every category: attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns and unfortunately for him, interceptions (though his interception percentage is far below what it was last year). The most telling stat of all is his average of 216 yards passing per game, up from just 98 a year ago. "Last year [the offense] wasn't suited to my talents," Mills said. "I had to run the option and not make as many attempts as I would have liked. This year the offense is molded to what I can do – marching the team down the field with short patterns, five-step and three-step drops and play action." Mills knew that more of the burden would fall on him and his throwing ability this year, which was how he wanted it. But he did not foresee the season-ending knee injury that starting tailback Keith Price suffered in the team's first scrimmage. Price gained 1,141 yards last season and was thought to be a possible pro prospect heading into this season, so when he went out the Elis feared that much of their offensive spark would go with him. But after a shaky start in a 12-3 opening day loss to Brown, the offense has been as potent as it has been in a while, which can be attributed directly to Mills. "It's been a real tough year for us with the injuries we've had," Cozza said, "and the burden fell on Steve to help us through it both emotionally and physically. He's made the plays, and more than that, he keeps the guys upbeat. He's been a real plus in keeping us in games we couldn't have been in otherwise." One such game occurred on October 2 when the then-winless Yale squad travelled south to play a Central Florida team currently ranked sixth in the country in Division I-AA. Mills ran the offense with precision, passing for 267 yards and two touchdowns, and narrowly missed pulling off a major upset. (Central Florida won the game 42-28 despite trailing 28-27 with 42 seconds left). Despite the valiant effort on his part, Mills was despondent over the loss. "We missed a golden opportunity," Mills said. "It would have been one of the biggest wins for Yale in a long time if we could have gotten it. We played well, but you can only have so many moral victories. We were more pissed off than anything else." Some of the sting from that loss was gone by the next week, however, as Mills led to the Elis to a 31-27 victory over a Holy Cross team that had defeated mighty Dartmouth two weeks earlier. Then, last week, Yale piled on 35 points in its first Ivy League victory of the season over Columbia. Despite the unimpressive 2-4 record and the crucial injuries, Mills is more confident about the team's ability than he was at this stage of the season last year when the Elis were 4-2 (they flopped down the stretch and finished 4-6) . What this year's team has that its predecessor lacked is a quarterback who feels more confident and capable of running the offense than he has ever felt since arriving at Yale. "We've had to go through a lot of adversity this year, but we've had some good games," Mills said. "No one is happy with the record, but we have an opportunity to have a good season?hopefully I can help along the way."
(10/25/93 9:00am)
When it was over, as the Penn men's soccer team exulted in its first Ivy League victory of the season, the Brown players simply had nothing left. Time after time they had been on the attack during Saturday's game at Rhodes Field, time after time the Bears had opportunities in the Quakers' end of the field. But when the final buzzer sounded they had only a 1-0 defeat and last place in the Ivy League to show for their efforts. Meanwhile, a Penn defense that has been plagued by mental breakdowns throughout the 1993 campaign came through with a stellar performance against probably the best team the Quakers (1-3 Ivy League, 5-6 overall) have faced all season. The Bears (1-4, 7-5) were ranked 19th in the nation and were coming off stunning victories over teams ranked in the top 10 in the country, but on Saturday they were the ones who were the upset victims. For first-year Penn coach George O'Neill, the fact that the game marked his first-ever Ivy League victory was not as significant as what the win meant for the psyche of a team mired in a three-game losing streak entering the contest. "I'm just delighted that we were able to get back on the winning track again," O'Neill said. "Our confidence just went down the drain against American and Lafayette. Today we certainly came out mentally and physically ready to play as soon as the whistle blew. We should get a lot of confidence from this game, beating a team of this caliber." Brown found out early in the game just how ready Penn was, as sophomore forward Pat Larco provided all of the game's scoring before many of the spectators had found their seats. With 10 minutes elapsed, junior midfielder Brian Brown chipped the ball ahead to Larco, who was racing toward the goal side by side with a Brown defender. But the ball took a funny bounce that threw the defender off his stride, and Brown goalie Tim Webb decided he had to come out after the ball. Larco deftly eluded Webb and easily booted the ball into the vacated net. "[Webb] came out for the ball and I don't know what he was doing, what his thinking was," O'Neill said. "I was just glad the ball bounced in our direction." From that point forward, however, it seemed like Brown had the ball in Penn's half of the field for virtually the entire game. The Bears had numerous corner kicks and indirect kicks near the Quakers' goal, but were unable to capitalize on any of their opportunities. The Penn defense kept Brown at bay most of the time, and when the Bears did break through, sophomore goalie Andrew Kralik was there to halt the attack. The Quakers' strategy entailed marking each Bear with a Penn player, with the exception of junior defenseman Mike Leo – who was assigned the role of free rover. The effect was that every time a Brown player touched the ball, he was double-teamed, and the plan worked as well as could be hoped for. "We knew they were a team that could knock the ball around, so what we did was let them knock the ball down into our end, no harm done," Kralik said. "But then when they got into our defensive third [of the field] we just got right on their backs. We packed it up in the back and there was very little room for them to knock the ball around." The significance of Saturday's performance for a defense that had looked shaky more often than not this season cannot be overstated. The game showed that Penn has the potential to compete with anyone on its schedule if it avoids the silly mistakes and lapses in concentration that had been leading to goals for the Quakers' opponents. On Saturday the mistakes were nonexistent, and so were the opponent's goals. "It was time to get everybody together and say 'let's look in the mirror,' " O'Neill said. "We did that – we worked on our problems and definitely came out ready to play."
(10/08/93 9:00am)
In order to grab its first Ivy League victory when it travels to Harvard for a crucial match tomorrow (11 a.m.) against the struggling Crimson (0-1-1 Ivy League, 1-5-1 overall), the Penn men's soccer team needs to wake up. Literally. Penn coach George O'Neill feels that it is not a coincidence that the Quakers are 4-1 in non-league games, which take place in the afternoon, but 0-2 in the Ivy League morning games. "We seem to have a problem playing at 11 o'clock in the morning," O'Neill said. "It's not an advantage because both teams have to play at that time, but it seems to hurt our team, especially, in the first 45 minutes. Then we start playing in the second [half]. In order for us to establish credibility for ourselves in this game, we have to come out mentally and physically ready early on." Sluggish first halves against Cornell and Columbia were indeed key factors in the Quakers' defeat at the hands of their two Ivy rivals. Penn has gone so far as to seek professional nutritional advice to ensure that the players get the proper intake of food and fluids heading into these early games. But all the dieticians in the world will not be the deciding factor in this game which, of course, will be won or lost on the field. For the Quakers, it is crucial for it to be won. "We have a lot of important games all year, but since we haven't won a game in the Ivy League yet, it's probably the most important one to date for us," sophomore defenseman David Choi said. "We have to win this game. We're a better team than Harvard, and we really have to win it." Penn's goal is to make the Crimson adapt to what it is doing, rather than the other way around. As such, the Penn coaches have not bothered to come up with much of a scouting report. "We want the guys to have a positive attitude and try to dictate the game to the other team rather than us worrying about what they're going to do," O'Neill said. "We want to do what we're good at doing, and if we do then other teams will definitely have to adjust." Two of Penn's recent opponents, Lehigh and La Salle, failed to make the proper adjustments, and the result for the Quakers was plenty of shots and four goals in the second half of each game. These games showed the Quakers how well they can do when they stick to their style and their game plan. The rebuilding Penn squad is in no position to take any Ivy League opponent lightly. Even in big victories against non-league opponents, the Quakers have not been able to completely rid themselves of the mental mistakes on defense that were a major reason for their losses to Cornell and Columbia. "We can play with anybody," Choi said. "It's just the little things that are going to put us over the top and win games, the little mental things."
(10/06/93 9:00am)
The heavy favorite is not a role that the Penn men's soccer team is accustomed to playing, nor is it one the Quakers particularly desire. But they better get used to it quickly because that is just the position they will be in when they travel to La Salle for a game today at 3 p.m. The Explorers are almost certainly the worst team on Penn's schedule, as they enter today's game with an 0-9-1 record. Inept is the only way to describe their offense, as they have averaged less than a goal per game in their 10 contests thus far. But the Quakers (3-3) know it would be unwise to overlook La Salle, which has more than enough motivation heading into this game. "For those other inner city schools it's a big win for them if they can come out and beat us because Penn is a very prestigious school," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "It's going to be tough. They're going to be a dangerous team to play because they have nothing to lose anymore, so we have to go in and play our game. We can't look past these guys, but if we're on our game we should be able to dominate." La Salle will be up for this game not just because it is playing Penn, but also because of who Penn's coach is. Quaker coach George O'Neill coached La Salle coach Pat Farrell and assistant Jim Coleman for several years in Europe back in the late 1970s, and this will be a chance for the two to show O'Neill how much they have learned. "They're going to be coming out wanting to get one over the old coach, which is fine," O'Neill said. "It should be very interesting. I know it's not going to be easy for us because they're going to have their guys fired up." Factor in the burning desire to get win number one after 10 blown attempts, and it is obvious that La Salle will be plenty geared up for the Quakers. But Penn has its own reasons for wanting to win and, more than that, to excel. With a crucial league game against Harvard coming up, the Quakers want to get back the form they had in their victory against nationally-ranked Philadelphia Textile. That game was followed by a ragged win against Lehigh and a tough 3-1 loss to Columbia, both of which featured somewhat sloppy performances on both sides of the ball. "We have to cut down our mental errors [on defense]," Kammersgaard said. "Then we have to shore up our goal scoring and put the ball in the net more than once per game. In the midfield we have to go out and play our game – direct attacking soccer." The Quakers are indeed looking to use this game to establish some consistency on offense. Against several opponents this year, the attack has been on top of its game, but in two Ivy League contests, most recently in the loss to Columbia, it has totaled just one goal. Penn is looking to sharpen up its passing and get some needed work on corner kicks and set pieces. In truth, however, increased scoring should follow suit if the Quakers improve the mental aspects of their game. Penn is 0-2 in the Ivy League not because it is an inferior team, but due to mental lapses that led both to wasted opportunities for the Quakers and a few goals for their opponents that maybe shouldn't have happened. Today's game against an overmatched La Salle squad might be just what Penn needs to get everything in order before gunning for its first win at Harvard. "We need to settle down and maintain our concentration so we can play soccer the way we're capable of playing – for the whole game, not just in patches," O'Neill said. "Maybe it's due to inexperience with the system I'm having them play, or maybe just a lack of confidence overall. We should realize that we weren't outclassed [against Columbia], it was just that we weren't concentrating enough." If the Quakers experience similar problems today, it is not inconceivable that they could become the Explorers' first victim. Penn certainly knows what it is like to be the underdog, to be looking for any slip the opponent might make that would allow for the upset. "The coaches have stressed that to us," senior captain Mike Gomez said. "[The Explorers] have nothing to lose. This would make their season. We need to be aware of that. We definitely know what can happen in that situation."
(10/06/93 9:00am)
The heavy favorite is not a role that the Penn men's soccer team is accustomed to playing, nor is it one the Quakers particularly desire. But they better get used to it quickly because that is just the position they will be in when they travel to La Salle for a game today at 3 p.m. The Explorers are almost certainly the worst team on Penn's schedule, as they enter today's game with an 0-9-1 record. Inept is the only way to describe their offense, as they have averaged less than a goal per game in their 10 contests thus far. But the Quakers (3-3) know it would be unwise to overlook La Salle, which has more than enough motivation heading into this game. "For those other inner city schools it's a big win for them if they can come out and beat us because Penn is a very prestigious school," Penn assistant coach Brian Kammersgaard said. "It's going to be tough. They're going to be a dangerous team to play because they have nothing to lose anymore, so we have to go in and play our game. We can't look past these guys, but if we're on our game we should be able to dominate." La Salle will be up for this game not just because it is playing Penn, but also because of who Penn's coach is. Quaker coach George O'Neill coached La Salle coach Pat Farrell and assistant Jim Coleman for several years in Europe back in the late 1970s, and this will be a chance for the two to show O'Neill how much they have learned. "They're going to be coming out wanting to get one over the old coach, which is fine," O'Neill said. "It should be very interesting. I know it's not going to be easy for us because they're going to have their guys fired up." Factor in the burning desire to get win number one after 10 blown attempts, and it is obvious that La Salle will be plenty geared up for the Quakers. But Penn has its own reasons for wanting to win and, more than that, to excel. With a crucial league game against Harvard coming up, the Quakers want to get back the form they had in their victory against nationally-ranked Philadelphia Textile. That game was followed by a ragged win against Lehigh and a tough 3-1 loss to Columbia, both of which featured somewhat sloppy performances on both sides of the ball. "We have to cut down our mental errors [on defense]," Kammersgaard said. "Then we have to shore up our goal scoring and put the ball in the net more than once per game. In the midfield we have to go out and play our game – direct attacking soccer." The Quakers are indeed looking to use this game to establish some consistency on offense. Against several opponents this year, the attack has been on top of its game, but in two Ivy League contests, most recently in the loss to Columbia, it has totaled just one goal. Penn is looking to sharpen up its passing and get some needed work on corner kicks and set pieces. In truth, however, increased scoring should follow suit if the Quakers improve the mental aspects of their game. Penn is 0-2 in the Ivy League not because it is an inferior team, but due to mental lapses that led both to wasted opportunities for the Quakers and a few goals for their opponents that maybe shouldn't have happened. Today's game against an overmatched La Salle squad might be just what Penn needs to get everything in order before gunning for its first win at Harvard. "We need to settle down and maintain our concentration so we can play soccer the way we're capable of playing – for the whole game, not just in patches," O'Neill said. "Maybe it's due to inexperience with the system I'm having them play, or maybe just a lack of confidence overall. We should realize that we weren't outclassed [against Columbia], it was just that we weren't concentrating enough." If the Quakers experience similar problems today, it is not inconceivable that they could become the Explorers' first victim. Penn certainly knows what it is like to be the underdog, to be looking for any slip the opponent might make that would allow for the upset. "The coaches have stressed that to us," senior captain Mike Gomez said. "[The Explorers] have nothing to lose. This would make their season. We need to be aware of that. We definitely know what can happen in that situation."
(09/30/93 9:00am)
Want indications that the Penn men's soccer team should be much improved over last year's horrid 4-11 record? Well, how about a 6-3 romp over Lehigh yesterday at River Field in which the Quakers scored their highest number of goals in over a year. Or that Penn now is over the .500 mark (3-2) for the first time since the early part of 1990. Both would seem to be a sure sign that the Quakers are a team on the rise. Perhaps a surer sign is that Penn feels that it did not play nearly as well as it should have. The Quakers were able to force the issue offensively, due to smart execution on their part and inept defensive play by the overmatched Engineers (2-5-2). But the pervasive feeling on the team seemed to be that Penn should have scored closer to 10 goals. The resounding victory did not disguise the fact that the Quakers will have to avoid the missed opportunities that they experienced yesterday. "It was probably the worst game we've played all year," junior midfielder Brian Brown said. "It was no indication of how we can play. We weren't clicking today. We couldn't find an even tempo where everything was consistent. We were up, then down." Penn coach George O'Neill had wanted to capitalize on Lehigh's inexperience by attacking early and denying the Engineers any opportunity to gain confidence as the game wore on. He got his wish as Penn stormed the net right at the outset. Just over two minutes had elapsed when the ball came in from the wing and senior forward Kossouth Bradford headed it toward the net. The ball went to senior defenseman Christian Eidem, who was positioned near the back post. Eidem whacked the ball into the roof of the net to give the Quakers a 1-0 lead. All was not well for Penn in the first half, however. The Quakers missed several opportunities to score and perhaps put Lehigh away early. Midway through the half, Bradford received the ball in the center of the field no more than 10 yards away from the goal, but he was unable to put enough into the shot and it was an easy save for Lehigh goalie Chris Booth. Moments later, a breakdown in the Engineers' defense allowed sophomore Pat Larco a breakaway opportunity with no one but Booth standing in the way of a goal. But Larco was unable to even get a shot off. "We should have had the game won at halftime," Penn coach George O'Neill said. "Instead we missed easy shots and allowed it to get tough in the second half. It certainly wasn't one of our better performances. It wasn't pretty to watch." Penn was able to pad its lead going into the break. A throw-in by senior captain Mike Gomez near Lehigh's goal bounced off an Engineer and right to the waiting head of junior midfielder Michael Singleton. Singleton knocked the ball right by Booth to give the Quakers a 2-0 lead. "We took [the Engineers] lightly and played down to their level," Brown said. "At halftime we looked at ourselves and said we need to finish our opportunities or these guys can crawl right back into the game." It was Lehigh who first took advantage of an opportunity in the second half. A pretty feed gave Lehigh midfielder Earl Dennis a one-on-one opportunity with only Penn sophomore Greg Sexton between him and sophomore goalie Andrew Kralik. Dennis successfully dodged past Sexton and slid the ball right by Kralik with 34 minutes remaining. It did not take Penn long to strike back, however. Three minutes later Bradford was dribbling toward the goal looking for a shot when he was tripped up by a Lehigh defender. The referee found the tackle a bit too violent and awarded the Quakers a penalty shot. One result was a 3-1 lead for Penn as sophomore midfielder Steve Marcinkiewicz easily booted the ball home. The other result was a red card for the Lehigh coaching staff, who did not find the call to their liking. "I wouldn't have given a penalty kick there," O'Neill said. "I would have been annoyed if I were their coach, but we'll take everything we get." Perhaps the most crucial series of the game came moments later, starting with Kralik's lunging save of a blast by Lehigh midfielder Will Orben. The Quakers sent the ball back down the other way, where freshman forward Max Englehart sent the ball in to Brown. Brown played the ball off a defender, got it on the rebound, and knocked it past Booth, who was then pulled from the game. Lehigh came back with a goal with 20 minutes remaining, but goals by sophomore midfielder Pat Brannigan and Bradford iced the game for the Quakers. Lehigh forward Kevin Hazzard finished the scoring with 5:35 left to play. The second half was much more productive for Penn offensively, but on defense the performance was less than stellar. "To our credit we kept trying to play attacking soccer," O'Neill said. "We got the win and that's the main thing. We did score six goals, and we did it with good passing. "But our concentration was there only for spells. We were careless at times. And we're still giving away silly goals in the back. Those were definitely defensive lapses." Even though there were some Penn mistakes in the game, the bottom line is the Quakers came away with a win, bringing them within one win (after five games) of last year's total (in 15 games). "The only positive thing is we didn't play very well but we still came away with the win," junior defender Michael Leo said. "The difference between this year and last year is if we would have played like this last year we probably would have lost."
(09/20/93 9:00am)
The Penn men's soccer team went into Saturday's Ivy League opener against Cornell hoping to rid itself of the memory of last year's 1-6 league record and to begin writing a new and better chapter. Instead, all the Quakers came away with was the same old story. Just as they were last season and in last week's season opener again St. Joseph's, missed opportunities and one or two defensive lapses were the keys to Penn's (0-1 Ivy League, 1-2) downfall. They enabled Cornell (1-0, 3-0), which turned in a less-than-stellar performance itself, to grab a 2-0 victory and deny new Penn coach George O'Neill his first Ivy League victory. "I don't think we played as well as we could play," O'Neill said. "We had some clear-cut chances but we didn't take them and they certainly punished us for the couple of mistakes we made. [The players] always try hard, but they made these mental mistakes again." After a scoreless first half, Penn's offense came out of the locker room with newfound energy. Pressing with more vigor than it had in the first half, the Quaker attack set up sophomore forward Pat Larco for an open shot up top in front of the net. Larco was unable to convert, sending the shot wide. Given that reprieve, the Big Red resumed their own attack and the teams continued to battle to a standstill until just over 14 minutes remained. A Penn infiltration was stymied and Cornell brought the ball back out. When the Quaker midfield failed to drop back in time to help, the Big Red had a two-on-one opportunity. The ball was dropped off to Cornell forward Alan Vaughn who blasted it past Penn sophomore goalie Andrew Kralik from 25 yards out. Penn stepped up its attack yet another notch after the goal. With seven minutes remaining, the ball was centered in to an open Pat Brannigan. The sophomore midfielder put the ball on goal, but it was an easy save for Cornell goalie Louis Bergholz. "We missed chances we had to score," senior forward Kossouth Bradford said. "We have to finish those. That makes all the difference right there. It's frustrating because we're better than that, and because even though we didn't play that well, we still had a chance to win the game." With a minute to go in the game, Cornell put the nail in the coffin when forward Adam Notarantonio eluded Penn junior Michael Leo and sophomore Greg Sexton and slid the ball right by Kralik. It was a sad ending for a defense that played quite well in the second half – with the exception of the lapse that allowed the first goal. Despite the fact that Cornell won the game in the second half, Penn's all-around performance was much improved over its play in the first half. During the first 45 minutes of play, the Quakers were unable to get anything going on offense, and the score was tied only because the Big Red's play was equally sloppy. The Quakers woke up in the second half, but it wasn't quite enough. So now it's more or less back to the drawing board for a team that had momentum in its corner after an impressive 4-1 win over Villanova in its second game of the season. The Quakers know they must come out with a crisper performance if they are to have a chance against the rest of the Ivy League. "Hopefully we'll rebound and get our confidence back," Bradford said. "Right now everyone's frustrated and disappointed in the team and in themselves because we all let down." That seems similar to what the Quakers found themselves saying during most of last season. This season is still young and there is plenty of time for the team to rebound. But for right now, its the same old story.
(09/15/93 9:00am)
There was none of the despised artificial turf that the Penn men's soccer team had to endure in its season-opening 2-0 loss to St. Joseph's in sight. There was a weak Villanova team that had dropped games to Lafayette and Drexel. Most importantly, there was a Penn squad that turned in a much-improved performance in its second game – a performance that featured the best offensive output the Quakers have enjoyed since the early part of last season. All of these factors combined to give the Quakers a 4-1 whipping of Villanova, a .500 record (1-1), and the first victory for new Penn coach George O'Neill. "Today looked like a great step in the right direction," O'Neill said. "The important thing is getting them to understand the way I want them to play the game. All coaches put their own approach in. We had it going for quite a while where we were getting the ball under control and looking good." Even though sophomore forward Pat Larco gave the Quakers their first goal of the O'Neill era, Penn did not have too much to celebrate during the halftime break. A mental breakdown, remeniscent of those which hounded the Quakers against St. Joseph's, allowed Villanova to tie the game at 1-1 shortly before the end of the half. The second half, however, provided a marked contrast to the St. Joseph's game, as the heretofore stalled Penn offense started turning opportunities into goals. The Quakers scored three times to cruise to victory, starting with two goals by freshman forward Tim Reusche. Reusche first took a pretty cross pass from sophomore Steve Marcinkiewicz and booted the ball into the net. The Wildcats seemed to run out of energy following that goal, and Reusche was able to take a pass from Larco, dribble right around two Villanova defenders and score to give Penn a 3-1 advantage. Reusche gave part of the credit for his goals to the midfield. "The midfield played real well so the forwards had a lot more opportunities [than against St. Joseph's] and a lot better balls to work with." Sophomore Pat Brannigan's goal iced the game and finished a very productive afternoon for the offense. "Last time we had a couple of mental breakdowns," O'Neill said. "For the most part today we shut that down. On the attacking side we got the shots and were concentrating even more than we have been. [The players] came out and won the game today." As the offense racked up the points, the defense did its job effectively. Aside from the one lapse that allowed the Wildcats to score, the defense was able to keep Villanova at bay, minimize its scoring chances and keep the ball down on the other end of the field for the majority of the time. "It was a good effort by everybody," senior captain Mike Gomez said. "We played pretty well. There is room for improvement, but we played well." "This game was what we're looking for," O'Neill said. "If we approach each game the way we did today and keep getting the ball to different people, we'll always be in any game. We need to approach it one game at a time and make as few mental mistakes [as today], then we'll do well over the long haul."
