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(03/30/00 10:00am)
A possible security breach or system overload cut off many students' access to PennNet. Many Penn students experienced technological glitches while using the Internet for the past two days, finding themselves unable to use software like instant message service ICQ. Penn officials say that most of the difficulties were a result of an investigation into a series of potential security breaches on the network, which forced the Office of Information Systems and Computing to place a block on many PennNet services. Security violations could include hackers entering PennNet. Hackers can automate several computers to send all data stored on them to a single computer system and thereby place an overflow of information into the system. ISC Vice Provost Jim O'Donnell, a Classical Studies professor, said officials are looking into a series of security-related incidents, though he declined to elaborate on what they were. Whatever the cause, for the past two days Penn put a block on certain services to check if they were the source of security problems. O'Donnell said the block has been mainly lifted, but he would not say if the root of the problem had been discovered. He explained that if hackers were to access the system, possible security problems could be denial of service attacks -- programs designed to generate enough traffic on the network so that they deny access to the network's legitimate users. Denial of service attacks include attempts to flood a network with traffic, to disrupt connections between two or more machines, to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service and to disrupt service to a specific system or person. "One of the challenges these days is you're not sure what clever ideas people can come up with to do with the Internet," O'Donnell said. Another possible cause of the network traffic is PennNet users' use of new audio and video services. But O'Donnell doubts that Napster.com is a problem. Napster -- a popular Internet service that allows quick downloads of megabytes of music -- has been a burden on some college networks by draining bandwidth away from regular applications, such as Web browsing. "We haven't seen [Napster] as a real big problem here yet," he said. O'Donnell said traffic problems sometimes go unnoticed for long periods of time. But for the past year, ISC has utilized new network monitoring software, which notifies staff as soon as a technical difficulty is detected. O'Donnell said most people found out about the problems from a statement he posted on the PennNet-announce listserv and newsgroup and experienced few or no difficulties. Traffic issues are "part of the challenge of living on the Internet," but similar problems have not occurred in recent years, O'Donnell said.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
The Quakers lost at Lafayette by a familiar margin -just one run. Another day, another tough one-run defeat. After falling to Temple Tuesday afternoon at Veterans Stadium by the closest of margins -- 5-4 in 10 innings -- the Penn baseball team traveled to cold and windy Easton, Pa., yesterday to try and wash the bitter aftertaste of falling to the Owls out of its collective mouth. It didn't work out that way. With a 10-9 loss to Lafayette marked by shaky pitching and fundamentals, the Quakers fell to 8-9 on the season and are left to ponder the missed chances at victory that have defined their week. The Quakers jumped out to an early 3-1 lead on the strength of sophomore catcher Brian Fitzgerald's two-RBI single to right-center field in Penn's three-run second inning. It was a lead Penn would not hold for long. Lafayette shortstop Vince D'Angelis' single to right-center field in the bottom half of the inning scored right fielder Russ Giglio, cutting Penn's lead to a scant one run. After going two innings and giving up one earned run, Penn starting pitcher Greg Lee was lifted in the third to help set up this weekend's pitching slate for the Quakers. His replacement was Nick Barnhorst, who didn't last long. With one out, Barnhorst walked Lafayette designated hitter Niko Palos and third baseman Bob Osipower. After first baseman Matt Tambellini reached on a fielder's choice, knocking out Osipower at second base and advancing Palos to third. A passed ball charged to Fitzgerald scored Palos and sent Tambellini to second. This turn of events seemed to unnerve Barnhorst, who walked the next three batters, forcing home a run in the person of Tambellini. Barnhorst was lifted in favor of promising freshman Ben Otero, who got D'Angelis to end the inning by flying out to left with the bases loaded. While Lafayette missed a chance to break the game wide open, they would never trail again. "He was horrendous," Penn coach Bob Seddon said of Barnhorst. "Nick could not find the plate. It seems like when something goes wrong, we break down. In other words, first inning, first batter, line drive to third base, and it's not caught. Then we break down -- a walk or a hit. We're not strong when we have something negative go wrong?. After a goof, we have to be more focused." In the Leopards' next turn at bat, they would make the Quakers pay dearly for their mistakes. With two outs, Otero struck out Palos swinging, seemingly ending the inning. But Fitzgerald let the ball get away -- his second passed ball of the game -- and Palos was able to reach first base. Lafayette took advantage of its new lease on life. After Palos reached base, Osipower homered to right, driving himself and his teammate in. Not to be outdone, Tambellini immediately followed Osipower's blast with one of his own, a solo shot to center that gave the Leopards a 7-3 lead. The Quakers got two back in the top of the fifth when shortstop Glen Ambrosius' fielder's choice scored second baseman Nick Italiano. A wild pitch by Brendan McDonough later in the inning scored designated hitter James Mullen, who had reached base earlier on a fielder's choice of his own. In the sixth, the Quakers had a chance to score when Brian Fitzgerald stood on third with one out. But left fielder Jeremy McDowell ran into a tag on a ground ball by Italiano to initiate a double play that ended the inning before the run could score from third. "We did some stupid things that become highlighted when you've given up a lot of runs," Seddon said. "If you weren't giving up all those runs, you wouldn't really notice those little things. They hurt us." The Leopards put the game away in their half of the sixth. After Otero held Lafayette to one hit in the fifth, Dan Fitzgerald was brought on to pitch and was shaky, walking three batters and plunking one with a pitch. With two outs and runners on first and second, Jon Kline pinch hit for catcher Jason Carlough and squeezed a single through the left side, loading the bases. Giglio singled to left, scoring two and giving the Leopards a 9-5 lead. After walking the next batter to reload the bases, Fitzgerald hit D'Angelis, forcing in another run. While Fitzgerald got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting center fielder Tye Gonser to pop out to him, the damage had been done, and Lafayette had the runs they would eventually need to prevail. With right fielder Kevin McCabe's three-run homer in the top of the seventh, Penn cut the deficit to 10-8 and put themselves in an excellent position -- with Brian Burket and Ben Krantz holding Lafayette scoreless in relief in the seventh and eighth, Penn only needed to score two runs over the final two innings to pull even with the Leopards. In a slugfest such as yesterday's contest, this seemed to be an achievable feat. However, the runs Penn needed to avoid defeat never materialized. After the Quakers cut the Lafayette lead to 10-9 in the eighth inning, they looked to be poised to take the lead in the ninth. With darkness encroaching upon the field, pitcher Ross Butler walked McCabe and center fielder Andrew McCreery to start the final frame. But Brian Fitzgerald's bunt rocketed back to the box, and Butler was able to force out McCabe at third. Butler settled down and struck out first baseman Ron Rolph and left fielder Jeremy McDowell to end the game with the tying run in scoring position. "Even though they're scoring a lot of runs, they're not getting clutch hits," Seddon said. "You can't put it all on the pitchers, and the offense knows that. You can't [have] a man on second, one out in the eighth inning and don't get him in and man on second, no outs in the ninth inning and don't get him in when you try and tie a game. "We're out of sync. We're not making the plays we have to."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Officials originally hoped to start building the controversial public school early this month. Construction of the new Penn-assisted public school in West Philadelphia remains on hold nearly a month after its scheduled groundbreaking. Work on the pre-K-8 neighborhood school was slated to begin March 1, and some officials have speculated that if the delay continues long enough, the school's scheduled fall 2001 opening may be pushed back. The University has played a key role in developing plans for the school since Penn and the Philadelphia Board of Education announced the joint effort in the summer of 1998. Penn has promised to contribute $700,000 a year -- $1,000 per student -- to the project for 10 years, as well as to provide technological and teaching support from its Graduate School of Education. Glenn Bryan, Penn's top community relations official, attributed the back-up to the Philadelphia school board's extended deliberation process to decide the catchment area -- which will determine who can attend the school. "We are waiting for the school board to decide what the catchment area will be," Bryan said. "It does threaten the school opening -- we are very much wanting the school board to make this decision." The board's Education Committee has been working to define the controversial catchment area since last December and early this year held several widely attended community meetings -- where angry and concerned area residents voiced their thoughts on both the school and the catchment area. Mayor John Street's overhaul of the school board earlier this month, in which he replaced five board members, also significantly delayed the process. Since the new appointments, there have been no public meetings to discuss the school and a spokeswoman from the Board of Education said there will be no new information released regarding the issue in the immediate future. School Board President Pedro Ramos could not be reached for comment. Steve Schutt, Penn's pointman on the project, said as long as the catchment area is determined this spring, it should not have much effect on the school's scheduled opening. He attributed the delay to logistical issues. "Our architects are working on some details of the design that have to be resolved for us to complete construction plans and schedules," Schutt said in an e-mail early this week. He added that the team expects to break ground in the near future. Bryan said it is a "definite priority" for the school to open on its scheduled date of fall 2001. Neither Schutt nor Bryan gave an estimated date when construction would begin. The school board must decide whether to assign to the school a specific neighborhood -- which Penn wants -- or to use a lottery system. The controversy has pitted neighborhood against neighborhood, with residents wanting to ensure that their children are eligible to attend. The catchment area will also likely have large implications for property values in the area. Meanwhile, community members said they are unsure about the project's status. "It's dropped off the radar screen," Spruce Hill Community Association President Barry Grossbach said. "Last thing we heard, the school board was supposed to make a decision in January." The three institutions occupying the block at 42nd and Locust streets where the new school will be built -- University City New School, Penn Infant Center and Penn's Children Center -- are still proceeding with their relocations as planned, although they remain uncertain about the updated construction schedule. Betty Ratay, principal of University City New School, was told by Penn officials to prepare for construction at the beginning of the month. "All the people in the parking lot had to be reassigned as of March 1. Then March 1 came, then March 2, then March 3," said Ratay, who is currently looking for a new location for UCNS. "Nothing happened. I don't know why." And Marni Sweet, director of the Penn Infant Center, said the day care center still intends to move to a new building on the same block during the summer and fall of 2001.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
PWB exceeds goals, readies for Final Four PWB exceeds goals, readies for Final FourThe organizing group overcame a fundraising shortage and plans to put on activities without a hitch. Women's Final Four Championship Week kicked off yesterday with an announcement that Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, the event's organizing committee, has exceeded its fundraising goal of $1.4 million and will be able to pay for all of the planned activities. Over the past weeks and months, there had been much talk that there would be a fundraising shortfall, but the host city and state governments came through with grants to cover the shortage. PWB officials would not release exact fundraising totals or how much money the state and local governments had provided. Philadelphia Sports Congress Executive Director Larry Needles, however, estimated that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania together donated about $150,000. The rest of the funds came from local corporate sponsors such as First Union Bank, American Water Works and Independence Blue Cross. Much of yesterday's press conference was spent publicly thanking the corporate sponsors, host schools and labor organizations for their donations. "We are so very proud of what our corporations have done, to join forces to make [the Final Four] possible," PWB co-chair Fred DiBona said. "I think the Final Four is one of the most important events to come to the city of Philadelphia in years." Speaking on why her company became a charter sponsor of the 2000 Final Four, American Water Works CEO Marilyn Weir contended that her company got involved for more than the customary tax write-off and image-enhancing publicity. "This all happened because I'm a frustrated 56-year-old basketball player," Weir said. "This has nothing to do with corporate citizenship. It's that [I] wish I could do that baseline shot from the corner the way I used to." On a more serious note, Weir said she noticed the growing fan base of women's basketball in the 23 states in which her company operates. While Penn and St. Joseph's are the official host universities for the Final Four, they handed the organizing and fundraising responsibilities off to PWB two years ago with the idea of creating a larger event than in past years. The creation of the PWB was a departure for the Women's Final Four, which in the past was organized out of the offices of the host university. Last year, for example, host-university Stanford had just a fundraising director, one staff member and three interns working full-time on Final Four activities, all of whom were Stanford employees. In contrast, this year's committee had two fundraising chairs, an organizing director, media directors, interns and help from the city visitors office. The shift in organizing strategies has caused an explosion in the size and scope of Final Four activities. To keep pace with the increase in programming, PWB announced it has recruited over 700 people to volunteer at least 12 hours of time. Last year's volunteer corp numbered just 600 according to Beth Goode, who was director of media relations for last year's event. Even with the increased staff, those associated with PWB gave much of the credit for the growth of the event to PWB Executive Director Cathy Andruzzi, who has headed PWB since its inception. "She's the one that has provided the energy; she's the one that has provided the insight; she's the one that had to deal with the problems every single day," DiBona said. Andruzzi's future with PWB, and PWB's future itself, will be one of the most pressing issues to consider following the Final Four. Andruzzi said there hasn't been time to think that far ahead this week, but she hopes to leave PWB as an organization that can grow the sport of women's basketball and continue to stage major basketball events. To help her assess PWB's potential future, Andruzzi will meet with a group of first-year Wharton MBAs who have spent the past 10 weeks studying PWB and assessing its viability as a permanent city organization. "Part of the creation of PWB was to create a long-term legacy financially and otherwise," said Mary DiStanislao, Penn's senior associate athletic director. "Our whole idea is to continue this and build playgrounds, to possibly fund scholarships, to get involved in youth programs."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Lauren Hittner will represent the Penn gymnastics team as the No. 2 seed in the all-around. Even though the Penn gymnastics team's season ended with the ECAC Championships on March 18, sophomore Lauren Hittner and junior Jenn Capasso haven't packed up for the year just yet. For only the fifth time in Penn history -- but for the fourth straight year -- the Quakers will be represented at the NCAA Regionals this Saturday at Penn State. Hittner will head into competition seeded second in the individual all-around, behind only Rhode Island's Marissa Medal. Capasso's fate is not as certain, as she will be an alternate both in the all-around and individual balance beam event. "The fact that we're sending two gymnasts to Regionals is a testament to the level of competition of this team," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "We're consistently performing at high levels." Only the gymnasts with the top seven individual scores in the all-around and the four events -- uneven bars, balance beam, vault and floor exercise -- from teams that did not qualify for regionals can compete. The Ivy League is well represented in individual all-around competition with Yale and Brown sending one representative each, meaning that three of the gymnasts who will perform in the all-around will represent the Ancient Eight. However, instead of rotating with her Ivy rivals, Hittner will be performing with one of the "Top 12" teams, exposing her to new gymnasts and a higher level of competition. She is looking forward to the challenge. "It's going to be different because I haven't really seen any of the teams that will be there," Hittner said. "I expect to just have fun. There will be a lot of great gymnastics, which should make for an exciting meet." The competition will cap off a storybook season that began with Hittner's transfer from William and Mary. After spending the majority of last season sidelined with mononucleosis, Hittner competed at the 1999 ECAC Championships, demonstrating her competitive skill to Kovic. He needed little convincing, however, as his memory of recruiting her as a high school senior vanquished any doubt that she would be a welcome addition to the Quakers. This season, Hittner has established and re-established the individual all-around school record at Penn and tied the balance beam standard in multiple meets for the Red and Blue. She was named the ECAC Co-Athlete of the Week for January 10 and ECAC Co-Athlete of the Year. And her remarkable season is not over yet. "[Going to regionals] is definitely a self-esteem booster because now I'm doing what I know I can do. Last year was frustrating because I knew what I had the potential to do, but my body wouldn't allow me to do that," Hittner said. Kovic knows that in addition to the solid routines and scores Hittner has posted this season, her contribution extends past mere competition. "She's helped to raise the level of gymnastics of the team. She's been a spark not only in competition, but as a personality on the team," Kovic said. Many of Hittner's teammates will be traveling to Penn State to cheer her on and provide a support base. "I'm really looking forward to it," Hittner said. "I just want to go in and enjoy myself."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Fanda Stejskal led the Penn surge by upsetting the region's top player, Michell Koch. The Penn men's tennis team gave Navy a salute of its own in Annapolis, Md., yesterday, sinking the Midshipmen, 5-2, to claim its third straight victory. Finding themselves down 1-0 after being handily swept by Navy (10-9) in doubles play, the Quakers (8-7) recomposed themselves in their six singles matches. Led by Fanda Stejskal's straight-set victory over Navy's Mitchell Koch -- the top-ranked singles player in the region -- and freshman Ryan Harwood's come-from-behind win over Midshipmen senior Joe McCauley, the Quakers conceded only one additional point in their successful upset bid. And with Ivy League play to begin this weekend at home against Princeton, Penn co-captain Eric Sobotka said his team's tenacity against Navy should be a warning sign for the Tigers. "We were pesky," said Sobotka, who easily won his singles match, 6-2, 6-0. "That's something that's really important, not just the fact that we beat Navy, but it was the way we beat them. That really shows that we're really ready for Princeton." Penn's peskiness was shown by Quakers ace Stejskal in his No. 1 singles match against Koch. After having fallen 8-3 in doubles play with partner Sobotka against the Navy pairing of Koch and Jim McHugh, Stejskal again found himself down to Koch early in his first singles set, 2-0. "He was a little tense," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said of Stejskal, who is ranked ninth in the region. "But then Fanda said, 'Hold on a second, I'm as good as this guy. Let me just get going, let me just get my feel.' All he did was just settle down, and then [Koch] kind of folded." Koch's fold resulted in a 6-1 rally for Stejskal to win the first set, 6-3, but Navy's top player quickly popped back into his regular form. Almost to show that the first set had been nothing more than a fluke, Koch used his strong forehand to vault himself into a commanding, 3-1 lead in the second set. Stejskal found himself desperately needing something to shift the momentum into his favor. It came from a mishit ball bouncing in from another game. "A ball rolled on the court just as Koch was about to put the ball away," Ernst said. "The umpire called [it], and it really disrupted him. He probably would have gone up 4-1 at that point, [but] he let that get to him." Instead, Stejskal turned around to claim the set, 6-4, and win his 18th match of the year in what he said was not even close to his best performance. "I don't feel like I played my best game today," the Prague native said. "But it's nice to know that I beat the best player [in the region] even if I didn't play too well." Ernst said that Stejskal's upset win over the region's No. 1 player was important not only for the Quakers' top player, but for the team as well. "They see that our guy beat the best player in the region, and it gives them confidence," Ernst said. One of Stejskal's teammates who seemed positively affected by the sophomore's victory was Harwood. While Stejskal was finishing off Koch, Harwood simultaneously took a 6-1 thrashing in the first set from Navy's Joe McCauley. McCauley's domination of the Penn freshman elicited loud cheers from the Midshipmen seated in the stands nearby. "He was on fire, that guy, and he was playing to the crowd," Sobotka said. "It was a harsh crowd out there. Those Navy guys, they don't have a lot to do, just row their boats or whatever, so they were pretty pumped." Despite facing a one-set deficit and a hard-blowing wind that sent the ball flying unpredictably, Harwood showed composure going into the second set. The tactic worked, and Harwood took the second set, 7-5, after battling serve for serve with McCauley. And after continuing some back-and-forth play with the Navy senior, Harwood went on a 4-0 run to win the final set, 6-2.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
There's nothing quite like facing Yale to get the Penn women's crew team's competitive juices flowing. This Saturday, the Quakers will meet the Elis and Columbia on the strong-currented Harlem River in a contest for the Connell Cup. For the past two decades, the trophy has belonged to either the Red and Blue or Yale, but mostly the Elis, as the Quakers have captured the cup only three times in that period. This time around, however, it will be the Quakers heading into the race as the most recent Connell Cup winners. "In a sense, the rivalry is upping the competition," Penn junior Rachel Pringle said. "We want to continue the trend of beating Yale. We want it to become a tradition." Raising the stakes, the regatta is the buzz out of New Haven that the Elis have become stronger and more powerful recently, even since the fall season. "It's a huge rivalry for us. We're determined to win," Penn junior Dara Friedman said. Coming off a sweep of all five races last Saturday against Navy and Georgetown, the Quakers are looking to continue their winning ways, a streak that extends back to a victory in the Head of the Schuylkill, their last regatta of the fall season. "We're definitely going to try to ride on this momentum," Pringle said. "It'll make for a competitive edge on top of a confidence boost." The Quakers, however, refuse to let themselves become overconfident. "Everyone is excited but cautious," Friedman said. "We want to show that we're building on what we accomplished last spring and how we've improved relative to the field of competition." Possibly complicating matters are the less-than-perfect racing conditions the Harlem River will present. The river that separates the Bronx from Manhattan is known for creating navigation difficulties and unexpected surprises. "Columbia is a really rough course. There are a lot of wakes and undercurrents that make the race somewhat unpredictable," Friedman said. The main focus for the Quakers will be to continue to work on racing well as cohesive units. Practice this past week has concentrated on sprinting to the finish. "We want to focus on racing strongly and cleanly," Pringle said. "In particular, we want to focus on a well-executed sprint and just a strong race overall." Penn coach Barb Kirch was pleased with the performance of her team last Saturday and hopes that they will continue that rhythm this Saturday. "I think it showed us our conditioning level and how important the winter training was. They showed poise and a will to not give up until the finish, and they need to carry that over," Kirch said. Pringle agrees that equally important to the physical factors that go into winning races is team attitude. "We hope to maintain our professionalism and go into the race knowing that the competition is tough, but that we will race all the better for it," she said. Using their momentum and knowledge of what it takes to win, the Quakers are looking for a back-to-back win of the Connell Cup for the first time in Penn history.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
A variety of events are on tap around the city to complement the Final Four. This weekend, Philadelphia is expecting a few visitors. About 40,000, in fact. With the 2000 NCAA Women's Final Four taking place at the First Union Center this weekend, officials are busy preparing the City of Brotherly Love for the thousands of basketball fans anticipated to attend -- and getting ready to reap the rewards the tournament will bring to the city. "This has literally been about a six-year process," Philadelphia Sports Congress Executive Director Larry Needles said. "To bring an event of this magnitude is truly a city-wide effort." Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, a local organizing committee, has been working closely with the Philadelphia Sports Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau to schedule a week of activities related to the Final Four and women's basketball as a whole. The Final Four games themselves, to be played Friday and Sunday nights, are sold out, but there are a host of events over the next four days that are open to the public. Today's first public event is an open practice and autograph session at the First Union Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring all the Final Four teams -- Connecticut, Penn State, Rutgers and Tennessee. Across the street at the First Union Spectrum, the U.S. women's national team will play a Hungarian club team tonight at 7 p.m. The rest of the weekend will be filled with basketball clinics for children aged 10-18 and a variety of fan-oriented events at the Convention Center. "This is a way of creating a women's basketball week in Philadelphia," PWB spokeswoman Laura Loro said. "It's a great opportunity to showcase the city and women's basketball together." To give visitors a good impression of Philadelphia, Danielle Cohn, the spokeswoman for Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that her organization has prepared transportation, special signs and welcome booths to help visitors navigate the city. In conjunction with the Philadelphia Sports Congress, the group has developed a shuttle system to transport coaches and visitors from events to hotels, games and airports. The routes will also be used to transport the large contingent of media members expected to cover the event. Cohn said she expected that those in town for the tournament will make full use of Philadelphia's tourist and historical attractions. The Philadelphia Sports Congress estimated that the economic benefit to the city from the Final Four will be approximately $25 million. This figure includes expenditures on hotels, restaurants and transportation. "People want to see the staple items of the city just as much as they want to explore the new," she said. "It's our job to make sure people are well-informed about what's going on throughout the city." Cohn said several welcome booths -- which will be manned by employees of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and by volunteers -- will be placed in the airport and in several hotels to help visitors get to and from the weekend's activities.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Women's hoops has rich history in city Women's hoops has rich history in cityFrom tunics to TV bucks, the story of Philly hoops has been a colorful one. Forget the Declaration of Independence and the cheesesteak; think not of America's "first university" nor its first fire department. This week, it is another institution with roots in the cradle of liberty -- women's college basketball -- that is garnering headlines and has the city abuzz. While no Philadelphia teams have qualified for the Final Four to be held this weekend at the First Union Center, the City of Brotherly Love's impact on the game is still readily apparent. Of the four teams that will descend on the city this week, two have head coaches who cut their basketball teeth in Philadelphia -- Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and Penn State's Rene Portland. Four of the players who will compete, including stars Kristen "Ace" Clement of Tennessee and Shawnetta Stewart of Rutgers, are also Philadelphia products. But Philly's impact extends far beyond playing host to this week's festivities, which will bring 40,000 players, coaches and fans into the region. Philadelphia is the cradle of women's college basketball, the place where it all began. From the pre-Title IX era to the sport's first forays onto the national sports radar to today's standing-room-only arena crowds, Philadelphia has played an integral role in the evolution of women's college basketball. In 1969, West Chester coach Carol Eckman decided to host a national invitational college tournament and drew an unlikely mix of 16 teams, including Purdue, Kentucky, Southern Connecticut and Ursinus. According to some reports, 2,000 fans jammed West Chester's cramped fieldhouse to watch the host Golden Rams pound Western Carolina in the final, 65-39, and claim the first semblance of a women's national title. In 1971, the rules of the women's game were modernized. Gone was the six-on-six play and the strange rules limiting the number of dribbles, vestiges of an era when women played the game in bloomers and long tunics. "There used to be six players on a side, and only two ran up and down the whole court -- so at any given time, there'd only be four players on a side," says Cathy Rush, who coached Immaculata College in Paoli, Pa., from 1970-77. "I took the job in 1970 at Immaculata for $450 a year, and it was supposed to be a low-key job." Rush's years at Immaculata turned out to be anything but low-key. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, barring sexual discrimination at federally funded institutions and mandating equal gender treatment in athletics. That same year saw the founding of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which sponsored the first true national championship tournament. That season, the Mighty Macs of tiny Immaculata -- utilizing a sleek new style of play while emphasizing fundamentals -- burst from their suburban campus to upset West Chester for the title. "There were only 11 players on the team, I had no assistant coach and, because we didn't have enough money, I could only take eight players. We flew stand-by and we drove from Chicago down to Illinois State," Rush says. "After each game there were no reporters, no UPI -- we would actually call the university, call our friends and family and tell them, 'We won!'" By the next season, Immaculata had established itself as the first true attraction in the women's game. "Because Immaculata's gym had burned down, we started renting the old Villanova field house, Ridley High School, Great Valley High School, and we started filling them up," Rush says. That following blossomed from a nucleus of nuns of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who flocked to the games from the local orders wherever the Mighty Macs played. As Immaculata continued to devour its competition -- the Mighty Macs repeated as national champs in '73 and won again in '74 -- the crowds continued to grow. "[Current Penn State coach and former Mighty Mac] Rene Portland's father had a hardware store? and Rene's two brothers would bring in five or six dozen metal buckets on dolleys and hand them out," Rush recalls. "Of course, the nuns got theirs first, and so here's our fan base of nuns and family and friends and assorted people and people sitting in the stands with buckets between their knees and these wooden dowels and just beating the buckets." With fans banging on the buckets, the Mighty Macs pounded on the competition. In 1972-73, Immaculata cruised to a 97-24 victory over Penn at the Palestra. "People hated seeing us coming," Rush says, "because they knew it was loud, they knew it was going to be boisterous and they knew they were going to get killed." In '75, though, the AIAW permitted scholarship schools to enter the national tournament and Immaculata lost in the finals to Delta State of Louisiana. In 1977, LSU bumped the Mighty Macs in the semifinals, and Rush hung up her clipboard to focus her energies on her summer basketball camp. The game was changing. An era of big schools -- with swelling budgets, scholarships and state-of-the-art facilities -- was ushered in. Once-mighty Immaculata, which played the first nationally televised women's game in '75, could no longer compete. Today, women's college basketball has reached an all-time high. Immaculata, meanwhile, has faded into the world of Division III. "There's a possibility of this whole thing being made into a movie," Rush said. "And the premise is that it's Hoosiers, A League of their Own and Sister Act all rolled into one. It was just a crazy, crazy time." While the Mighty Macs' dominance ended, their legacy is still highly visible in the world of women's college basketball. Mighty Mac alums Marianne Stanley, Rene Portland and Theresa Grantz serve as head coaches at national powers California, Penn State and Illinois, respectively. Final Four coaches C. Vivian Stringer of Rutgers and Geno Auriemma of UConn both emerged from the Philly women's college basketball scene of the 1970s. Stringer, an old friend of Rush's, began coaching at Cheyney State in '71, while Auriemma, a Norristown native, got his first job as an assistant at Virginia via his friendship with current St. Joseph's men's coach Phil Martelli -- whose wife, Marra, played for Rush at Immaculata. For those who have followed the sport's rise in Philadelphia from the first tournament at West Chester to this week's Final Four, there is a true sense of satisfaction. "There's a lot of nostalgia in all this," said Mary DiStanislao, who played at Rutgers and served as an assistant coach at Immaculata and is now an associate athletic director at Penn, "because 25 years ago I was here as a college player and as an assistant coach, being part of the Immaculata thing, and knowing all these people from when the world was a lot smaller, and now seeing it come full circle and having it being a huge media event?Eis just astounding."
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The Penn women's golf team hopes to improve upon the progress made last fall when it sees its first action of the spring this weekend. The Quakers will compete in the William and Mary Invitational, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Ford's Colony golf course in Williamsburg, Va. The Red and Blue will be competing against 15 other programs, including national powerhouses Yale, James Madison and Methodist College. "This is, without a doubt, the best tournament that we've played in since we started our program last year," Penn coach Francis Vaughn said. The Quakers spent most of their spring break polishing their games at the PGA National course in Palm Beach, Fla. "The ladies have been practicing very well and hopefully will continue to improve on last year's performances," Vaughn said. "Some of them have played their best golf of late, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they do this weekend." In three tournaments this past fall, the Quakers showed steady improvement in their overall scores, even if their tournament placements did not reflect that effort. For now, though, the current squad would just like to keep building on its success, asserting that the sub-400 rounds they recorded at Rutgers are a reasonable expectation for both spring tournaments. "We're hoping to maintain the same [level of play] as before and to improve on our low score of 381 [at the Rutgers Invitational]," Penn freshman Stacy Kress said. The Quakers are also excited about the addition of sophomore Rachel Slosburg to the roster in the period since the fall season. While the Quakers may not quite be in a position to contend for tournament titles yet, they realize that they are not too far away from beginning to make serious challenges on the links. "We're going to play the best we can, and we're going to try to move forward with our games and with our team," Vaughn said. "Our goals have to be realistic -- we're playing against teams with established programs. "This year was my first recruiting year, but next year we may have the opportunity to go out and win some tournaments." At any rate, the Quakers hope to use this weekend's tournament to improve their games in preparation for the Ivy League Championships in mid-April. "We want to play well and get ready for the Ivy Champs in two weeks," Kress said.
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The members of the Penn women's basketball team won't be attending the NCAA Women's Final Four at the First Union Center this weekend -- they'll be too busy. The Quakers are volunteering at several events in and around Philadelphia that are being held in conjunction with the Final Four. At various times between tomorrow and Sunday, the Quakers will be working at the NCAA's Hoop City, an "interactive fan festival" at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. And for four hours on Saturday morning, the Quakers will be working with the NCAA's Youth Education through Sports clinics. At five sites throughout the Philadelphia area, the YES clinics will bring together coaches and student-athletes from local colleges with area students aged 10-18. The stated goal of these clinics is to "help area students develop sports skills and to encourage academic achievement," according to a press release from Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, the Final Four's organizing committee. "The free sports clinics feature enriching activities suited to the developmental level of each participant," the release continues. "Basically, [the clinics are] just a way for us to give the kids some attention, and hang out with them and show them what basketball's all about," Penn co-captain Diana Caramanico said. The Quakers, along with athletes from Rowan and St. Joseph's, will be conducting these activities across the Delaware River at Williamstown High School in Williamstown, N.J. The school is the site of the area's largest clinic, with approximately 480 kids taking part. "That's a lot," Caramanico said. "We're going to end up like at summer camps probably, with 10 or 15 kids per person." Penn coach Kelly Greenberg, who will not be involved in the clinics, saw the number of students at the Williamstown site as a tribute to the huge strides the sport of women's basketball has made and to the increased popularity of the sport. "I think that just the number of girls at this one site is very impressive and says a lot," Greenberg said. "The number of girls that play basketball now as compared to when I was younger is amazing." Greenberg also believes that, through events like the YES clinics, those currently involved in women's basketball have a responsibility to encourage the growth of the sport among younger children. "As women's basketball coaches and players, that's a duty of ours to make sure that [development] is happening at that level," Greenberg said. Greenberg's players know the importance of clinics and summer camps in the development of a student-athlete. "That was really how I started to play," junior guard Claire Cavanaugh said. "I made my first basket at a St. Joe's camp. "I love it, I've been a camper all my life. I remember idolizing the counselors, so it's cool to be on the other end." For Cavanaugh, the major benefit of a camp or clinic is that it makes the game of basketball and the idolized players more accessible. "You get to see that [the players] can be really cool or really fun and still be tough out on the basketball court," Cavanaugh said.
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Penn will be making its first appearance in the tournament. The Penn men's golf team will travel to Issue, Md., this weekend to compete in the second annual George Washington Invitational at the Swan Point Yacht and Country Club. The tournament -- which will take place on Sunday and Monday -- is one of the largest intercollegiate golf events on the East Coast with more than 140 golfers from 27 colleges and universities, including two squads from the host Colonials. Last year's invitational was won by American with a 50-over-par 626, seven strokes ahead of runner-up Maryland-Baltimore County and 13 strokes ahead of third-place Hampton. After a successful fall season and a productive spring break, the Quakers are looking forward to getting back into action against other schools in their district. Although Penn has never competed in this tournament, the Quakers' outlook is positive. "I expect to win, and the rest of the team does, too," junior Todd Golditch said. "We go into every tournament expecting to win, and there's no reason why we can't win [this weekend]." "Every week we try to win, and I think [this weekend] it'll come out well," Penn freshman Chad Perman added. Over spring break, the Quakers competed in the East Carolina Invitational in Greenville, N.C. Even though their 21st-place finish was well back in the field and something of a disappointment for the Red and Blue, the Quakers were pitted against very strong competition with teams from different districts. A good showing this weekend will bode well for the team's confidence, especially after stumbling a bit at East Carolina. The field at this weekend's tournament should be more representative of the Quakers' typical District II competition and virtually free of the Southern powerhouses that they saw over spring break. "I think we can work out the kinks that haunted us at ECU," junior Kyle Moran said. "I think we will do really well this weekend. We will be competing against teams in our district who are in similar positions as we are." At any rate, the team feels confident about its ability to bounce back from a rough showing at East Carolina. "Now that we've gotten a tournament under our belts, as well as some practice in better weather, we feel more comfortable with our chances [of winning]," Perman said. This weekend's tournament should be a good warmup for the Navy Spring Invitational and the Ivy League Championships, both set to take place later in April. The Ivy Championships are especially important because this marks the first year that the winner of the Ivies will move on to the NCAA Championships. If the Quakers are to take advantage of this opportunity, they will need to start showing marked progress this weekend at GW.
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Bouquets of rainbow-colored balloons sprang up all over College Green yesterday in celebration of B-GLAD, the annual Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Awareness Days. About 30 students, faculty and community members gathered at the Peace Sign for a rally at 12:30 p.m. to promote queer awareness, discuss their experiences and voice their concerns. Engineering junior Kurt Klinger, co-chair of the Queer Student Alliance, said the QSA hoped to increase its visibility through events such as these. "We're making more of an effort to be more visible on campus," he said. B-GLAD events will continue throughout the week, concluding with a party on Friday. Co-chair Mike Hartwyk, a College junior, also addressed the group's name change from the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance to the Queer Student Alliance. "We feel [queer] is a more neutral term," he said, adding that although in the past the word was used in a derogatory sense, today "the times have changed," and queer people are "reclaiming the word." The rally opened with a talk from College sophomore Rudy Ramirez, who, wearing sparkling black and flashy purple clothing, quipped, "I was a bit concerned about wearing this outfit because I didn't want anyone to think I was gay." But in between his crowd-pleasing jokes, Ramirez spoke seriously about the many obstacles homosexuals face in society. Asking audience members to look at their hands, he said, "There are those who would rather cut off your hand than have you use it to love the way destiny has told you to use it." "I will love the way I choose," he added. Ramirez was followed by 1978 Penn alumnus David Azzolina, who spoke about the history of gays at Penn. Azzolina was one of the few undergraduate members of Gays at Penn, the campus group for gay people that existed in the 1970s. "Most of the gay men of my generation are dead," he said. "It is incumbent of you young gay men to not forget them." Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center Director Bob Schoenberg read a statement from University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi, who expressed their continued support for B-GLAD events. "Truly Penn is a place that thrives on its diversity? and the spark and spirit it brings to campus," the letter stated. Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Mike Silver, a College senior, also spoke at the rally, emphasizing the UA's increased effort to work closely with minority organizations. "In the past, the UA has not really made this effort," Silver acknowledged. Silver also spoke about the derogatory e-mail sent to the QSA listserv last week. "Just because we are an Ivy League school? doesn't mean we're immune to these things," he said. Many of the students and other members of the Penn community who came to the rally said they found it inspirational. Mike LaMonaca, a 1998 Penn alumnus and now an employee of College Housing and Academic Services, said he was impressed by the speakers. "I'm continually impressed by the queer students here and how they are able to be visible on campus and to foster the ideals of tolerance and acceptance," he said.
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For everyone playing in this year's women's NCAA Tournament, the road to the championship goes through Philadelphia. For Tennessee junior Kristen Clement, that road also leads home. "Little did we know that not only would the Final Four be here in Philadelphia, but it would be in many many ways a Philadelphia weekend," PWB co-chair Fred DiBona said at the ceremonial opening of Championship Week yesterday. "We're pleased that Kristin Clement, the great Cardinal O'Hara star, will be here this weekend playing in Philadelphia as a Philadelphian. "I remember sitting in the Palestra and watching her perform with great amazement." Clement has deep roots in Philadelphia, but she has ties with some of the members of the Penn women's basketball team that predate even her local fame. Quakers guard Claire Cavanaugh also attended Cardinal O'Hara. She played with Clement not only in high school, but on the AAU powerhouse Philadelphia Bells as well. She tells a story from their AAU days that, at this point, seems clairvoyant. When Cavanaugh and Clement were in the eighth grade, the Bells were the AAU's national champs. The finals were played at that mecca of women's basketball -- Knoxville, Tenn. "We got there really early," Cavanaugh said. "We arrived in our Philadelphia Bells gear and everything. This custodian, who I don't think had a clue what was going on, let us into the actual Lady Vols locker room. Anyway, we thought that was pretty awesome, and I could tell then that she was pretty enamored of the whole scene." Enamored, maybe, but not intimidated. Even as an eighth grader, Clement, and others, knew that she could go places with basketball. "She's such a good player," Cavanaugh said. "And she has been for a long time. She's the type of player that makes everyone around her better." If she made her teammates better, what did she do to her opponents? Quakers co-captain Diana Caramanico recalls facing Clement on several occasions when she was playing on a different Philadelphia AAU team. "When we played against her as 11-year-olds, everybody was like, 'Oh, she's really good, you've got to watch out for her left hand, she's killer on the left hand,'" Caramanico said. "When you're little, you expect everyone to be right-handed, so it's really difficult to be guarding someone who uses the left hand, and she just killed us. "She was amazing. She was the main focus of the Bells. When you had to play the Bells, you really had to be careful about her." Caramanico was quick to point out that Clement, of course, was more than just a young phenom. "She was one of those kids that never fizzled out," Caramanico said. "There are always kids that never really amount to anything. But she was one of those kids that, every year we played against her, she just kept getting better and better, adding more and more skills to her repertoire, and it really paid off. She worked really hard, and she's doing great now." Doing great means averaging 25 minutes, 5.6 points and a team-leading 3.5 assists per game for a Lady Vols program that just clinched its NCAA-record 12th Final Four appearance. While those stats aren't tops among the Final Four's local players, Clement will still likely receive the most attention during the weekend. For one thing, her team is favored to reach the finals, while the other three -- Rashana Barnes and Andrea Garner of Penn State, and Shawnetta Stewart of Rutgers -- will be playing the role of underdogs. A second reason is the fame she received as a player at Cardinal O'Hara, where she broke countless city and county records, including Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record. But to the casual fan, she is also recognizable due to her much-publicized one-time relationship with Philadelphia Flyers star Eric Lindros. "She's a cutie," said College senior Paul Manion, a fellow O'Hara alum and 34th Street editor. "Women's basketball was a huge draw. It always packed the gym, and it was all because of her. There would be people there all the time, even for the crappiest of their games. "When she was a junior, they had five girls that all played [Division I] basketball, and they all would have been a star in their own right on any other team. She was just heads and shoulders above anybody, even in the country, let alone Cardinal O'Hara or Delaware County. "She got all of the attention because she was that good."
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The Penn men's heavyweight crew team will open its season this weekend at the San Diego Crew Classic. The Quakers will compete against 12 other crews, seven of whom are ranked among the top-10 nationally in preseason polls. Penn coach Stan Bergman is pleased with the progress his crew has made thus far. This year, a stronger emphasis has been placed on weight training and strength building. He has also increased his team's focus on heart rate and endurance to build a stronger aerobic base to improve spring speedwork. "We have lost many rowers this season," Bergman said. "The 18 that remain are a hard-core group showing much effort and dedication." One rower Penn has lost is commodore Nick Tripician, an Olympic hopeful who is training just across the Delaware in Princeton. Tripician took first place in the lightweight division at the Crash-B Erg Race held over the summer in Boston, where the competition included some of the world's best. But Tripician will be back next year, after he completes his training and possibly competes in Sydney. "[For now], our squad is small but tough," Penn junior Doug Sieg said. "Despite our losses, our boats are rowing well because we have a strong and committed group of athletes." The Quakers are looking to use their performance in San Diego as a gauge to measure the progress they have made since September. The Quakers have been fortunate to have had a lot of quality time on the water between winter training in Tampa, Fla., and spring break on the Schuylkill. "We are going to San Diego to row hard and focus on our team's racing skills," captain Greg Jenemann said. "We expect to be the fastest crew from the Eastern Sprints League." The Crew Classic will mark the beginning of a tough season of racing that will culminate in the prestigious Eastern Sprints and IRAs. "We are anticipating a technically efficient race and looking to draw our speed from our ability to row well together," sophomore varsity rower Mike Parker said. "Although this weekend will be highly competitive, it's important that we maintain our long-term goals of Eastern Sprints and IRAs and use San Diego as a springboard for success at national competitions." Through a combination of speedwork and endurance, the Quakers are leaving for San Diego well prepared to race hard and see the effects of their extensive winter training. "I personally want everyone to realize that we are going to San Diego to compete, not to eat hamburgers and hang out on the beach," Jenemann said. "There should be a high level of excitement just about racing after the long months of training." The Quakers hope to make those long months of training pay off in San Diego, and they will try to build on their results there when they return to the East Coast in two weeks. The Quakers, who were ranked third in the Ivy League and fifth nationally last year, will row three times before returning to the home waters of the Schuylkill on May 14 against Northeastern.
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The Quakers continued their impressive play since returning from the West. In its final warmup before the Ivy season, the Penn women's tennis team swept Rutgers, 9-0, for the second consecutive year at Levy Pavilion. Although injury and illness kept Rutgers from bringing a full team to Penn -- the Scarlet Knights forfeited the No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles matches -- the Quakers had little trouble taking care of the five Scarlet Knights who made the trip. At No. 1 singles, Penn junior Lenka Beranova was unfazed by the lobs and consistent returns from Donna Krouzman and cruised to an easy, 6-3, 6-3, win. Penn's Anastasia Pozdniakova had a much harder time playing Karla Porter at No. 2 singles. After Pozdniakova took the first set, 6-3, Porter adjusted to the Penn co-captain's style and started making fewer errors. Porter started the second set up 2-1, and her fast-paced, precise shots kept her leading the set until the match reached 4-5. Pozdniakova responded by coming to the net, where Porter could not handle the Penn senior's shots as easily. "I guess I'm used to playing outside, where the game is slower," Pozdniakova said. "I had to move faster. I came out strong on important points." Pozdniakova ultimately took the match, 6-3, 7-5. At No. 3 singles, Penn's Shubha Srinivasan did not lose a single game to the Scarlet Knights' Carissa Sommerland. Quakers Jolene Sloat and Justyna Wojas notched solid wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively. After going undefeated in singles, Penn continued to show its strength in doubles. The top Penn duo of Beranova and Rochelle Raiss clobbered Krouzman and Porter, 8-1. When both of the Quakers came to the net , Beranova had no trouble hitting scorching volleys at the feet of the Scarlet Knights -- and on a shot or two, Raiss' powerful smashes made her opponents duck their heads for dear life. Penn senior co-captain Elana Gold and Srinivasan had a little more trouble when they faced Rutgers' Sommerland and Jennifer Heller at No. 2 doubles. At the beginning of the match, the Scarlet Knights almost consistently let balls sail by them, allowing the Quakers to sprint to a quick 2-0 lead. But when the Quakers were at the net together, Sommerland and Hellar began to smash the ball right past them, making the ball land repeatedly right on the lines. The Penn duo regained its strength to pull off an 8-6 victory. "We had some good battles," Rutgers coach Marian Rosenwasser said. "We were hitting some quality shots, and there were some very solid points. Even if we had a full compliment of players, we knew this would be a tough match for us. Penn is a very solid team with talent down the lineup. I think [Penn] is going to have a good spring." Penn is indeed having a good spring, as its tough early schedule has paid dividends. "In the beginning of the season we lost really close matches by just a few points," Penn assistant coach Tiffany Gates said. "We have a lot more confidence now, and I think it's because of the schedule. We expect to win [close] points now." Beranova agrees and believes this improvement will help Penn in the Ivy season, which begins on Saturday. "[Rutgers was] a good team, but we're all really playing well because of the competition we've been playing," Beranova said. "We've been going for our shots and making winners. When it comes close, Penn's likely to win."
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The Penn men's lightweight crew team will open its season against Rutgers this weekend on the Raritan River in New Jersey. Although Rutgers is ranked highly in preseason polls, the Quakers, who have grown in both numbers and strength this year, expect a strong and competitive performance. Penn lightweight coach Bruce Konopka is pleased with his crew's progress. "We have trained hard and have increased the team's aerobic base with much success," Konopka said. "Our practices have been well attended and highly productive." With a team of 25, this is Konopka's largest crew since his arrival at Penn. "This year, we have enough rowers to fill three full eights, which increases competition for the top seats in the varsity boat," Konopka said. "I credit the sophomores especially for returning after their novice year." Penn captain Ben Goldman shares Konopka's optimism. "With three eights, team competition is tighter, making our entire varsity program much faster," Goldman said. "I think we will be showing some speed this weekend that Rutgers won't be expecting." Penn commodore Mike Smolenski has even more confidence in the Quakers' ability. "We are expecting to sweep all the races from the varsity on down to the freshmen," Smolenski said. "We are definitely mentally and physically ready to race, and we are patiently waiting to show how the training has helped us." Although the Scarlet Knights have already established themselves as a strong crew, the Quakers are ready for the challenge. "Based on what I have seen from them last spring and this fall, they are going to be very fast," Goldman said. "However, we are coming out of a solid winter of training, and our team is faster and deeper than I have ever seen it." The Penn lightweights anticipate they will have success this season beginning this weekend in New Jersey and culminating with the Eastern Sprints. "No matter what the results of this first race are, we are focused on the goal of winning Eastern Sprints, and our training reflects this goal," junior varsity rower Matt Morano said. Konopka is eager for the season to begin and looks forward to a good year. "After months of training, the crew is in its best shape ever and prepared for a season of tough racing," Konopka said.
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The Quakers allowed the game's first goal, but then blitzed St. Joe's on the way to a blowout victory. Coming off a disappointing loss to Harvard last weekend, the Penn men's lacrosse team badly needed a win against St. Joseph's last night. And that is exactly what the Quakers got. Penn (4-3) got goals and assists from 12 different players to crush the Hawks, 19-9. "The best part of the game was the fact that we knew we were a much better team than them and that we didn't keep them in the game at all," Penn senior co-captain Bill Fowler said. The Quakers, who have had a tendency to start games slowly, did allow St. Joe's (6-2) to take an early 1-0 lead. But that was the only advantage the Hawks would hold for the entire game, as Penn stormed back to tally three goals in two minutes. Peter Scott scored the first of the Penn goals, followed quickly by a breakaway goal by Todd Minerley with an assist from Pete Janney. Adam Solow finished the run by netting a goal, and by the end of the first quarter, the score was 4-1 and the Quakers were in full control. At the half, Penn found itself with an 11-5 lead and augmented that by the end of the third quarter, putting the Hawks in a 15-7 hole at the beginning of the fourth frame. "We did what had to be done. Once we got the lead, it was no longer in doubt," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "The scoring was pretty balanced, and a lot of goals came out of the midfield, which was nice to see." Four middies -- Kevin Cadin, Mike Kehoe, Alex Kopicki and Solow -- all made important contributions in the game. The Quakers combined to take 63 shots on goal, which is about double their normal output. "It's big to have guys coming off the bench and even starters being able to put points on the scoreboard," Fowler said. "I'm always for dishing the ball around and having as many people contribute as possible." Penn's play also differed in that it was much more aggressive than usual. The Red and Blue registered eight penalties, almost matching their entire total for the season. This statistic did not bother the Penn coach, however. "I was happy that the team came out with so much energy," Van Arsdale said. "And since that was where the penalties stemmed from, I wasn't as concerned." One other change that the Quakers made in this game was naming freshman Ryan Kelly as the starting goalie the first time. Although Kelly has played in past games this season, John Carroll had been the starter until yesterday. "We felt it was time to give Ryan a chance to start," Van Arsdale said. "He played well and made the saves he should have made. The goals that were scored on him were hard goals to stop. I think Carroll also responded to not getting the start and played well in the second half." The change did not affect the rest of the team, not even the defense with which the goalie communicates throughout the game. "All season long we've dealt with both goalies," Fowler said. "I enjoy playing with Kelly because he's a great communicator, and Carroll has the ability to make great saves. Either way, they are both our last line of defense and are both good enough to be in the goal." Although the team was happy with the way it played, the Quakers know that they will have to improve their intensity even more against Cornell this weekend. While Penn's 63 shots on goal were impressive, the fact that most of those shots were not on net was a bit of a concern. "Some guys could have had a really big night points-wise, but we had trouble shooting on-cage," Van Arsdale said. In addition, toward the end of the game, the defense broke down on some of the goals as the Hawks did not have to work hard to put the ball in the net. "We cannot afford to have that happen against Cornell," Van Arsdale said. "They are going to make us work harder on the other end of the field, and we can't give up easy goals." Although the Quakers showed no signs of getting down on themselves after starting with two consecutive Ivy losses, last night's win was very important.
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Penn hopes to ride its pitching to a sweep on the Main Line today. The Penn softball team is doing its best to show that pitching is not one of its liabilities, as some had predicted at the beginning of the season. The Quakers went 4-2 over this past weekend and gave up a total of only 12 runs, including a shutout victory against Lafayette. Penn started the weekend off 4-0 by sweeping doubleheaders against Lafayette and La Salle, but then lost two pitchers' duels to Rider on Sunday to drop its record back down to 8-12. "We had some really good pitching over the weekend," sophomore third baseman Jen Moore said. "Against Rider, we just didn't seem to get hits at the right time, when we needed them." Today, the Quakers will face off against Villanova. The Wildcats, who will host the game, sport an 11-6 mark on the year. Last season, these two teams, which play every year, split a doubleheader. "We are going into the game with the attitude that we should win both games," Penn senior co-captain Suzanne Arbogast said. "They are a tough team and have some great pitchers, but we are confident that we can walk away with two victories." One reason for Penn's strong pitching as of late has been the superb efforts of freshman hurler Becky Ranta. Ranta, who won her first three college starts, is credited with five of the Quakers' eight victories on the year. Ranta was also solid over the weekend. Against Lafayette she was unstoppable, throwing a three-hit complete game shutout. She also threw a complete game and gave up only two runs in a hard-luck loss to Rider. "Becky has been pitching really well, especially considering that she is a freshman," Moore said. "She's pitching with a lot of confidence, and her curveball is consistently fooling the batters and sometimes even the fielders." For the Quakers to sweep the doubleheader, they will definitely need more offense. Penn struggled to produce runs against Rider, scoring only once in two games. "In practice, we have been working more on hitting, so that should help everyone out," senior co-captain Michelle Zaptin said. "We know that we're not going to score nine or 10 runs every day, but we should be better against Villanova and get a few more hits and runs." One major problem for the squad has been an inability to consistently hit well with runners on base. "[Against Rider] we had some baserunners, but we just couldn't seem to hit them in," Moore said. "It's still early in the season though, so we just need to keep working and we'll be fine." Villanova may be about the last team that Penn wants to play, given the hitting difficulties that have plagued the Quakers as of late. The Wildcats are coming off a doubleheader against Monmouth in which they gave up a total of only two runs. "Everyone was pretty tired after four games and I think that was a factor against Rider," Arbogast said. "We're rested now and ready to play well. Our games with them always seem to be close, so it should be exciting."
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The Quakers had a 4-1 lead after the top of the fifth, but fell in 10 innings to city rival Temple. Even a little rain couldn't spell the Penn baseball team's Veterans Stadium drought. Battling a constant drizzle, the Quakers (8-8) lost their eighth straight Liberty Bell Classic opener, this one a 5-4 extra-inning heartbreaker against Temple (7-11-2). Getting six solid innings from sophomore starter Mike Mattern -- last year's staff ace -- and holding a 4-3 lead after seven innings, Penn looked as if it was on its way to exorcising its Liberty Bell demons. But missed opportunities at the plate and costly walks from their relief pitchers left the Quakers shaking their heads. Mattern got off to an inauspicious start when Temple leadoff man Jim Tully greeted him with a home run in the bottom of the first inning. But Mattern bore down and showed flashes of the stuff that won him six of the Quakers' nine victories last season. In the third inning, Mattern got into trouble when a leadoff single followed by a walk and an error put men on second and third with no outs. But Mattern used two timely strikeouts and a fly out to get out of the jam. Penn responded offensively the next inning. Center fielder Andrew McCreery, who went 2-for-4 on the day, smacked a single up the middle. Chris May then singled to right on a hit-and-run, giving freshman Nick Italiano runners at the corners with just one out. Italiano popped out foul behind third base, but McCreery alertly tagged up and scored, as Owls third baseman Sam Sabolchick had to make an awkward over-the-shoulder catch that put him in poor throwing position. Penn right fielder Kevin McCabe, who has found a new home at the nine-spot in Penn coach Bob Seddon's lineup, singled May home to put the Quakers up, 2-1. After a one-two-three bottom half of the fourth by Mattern, Penn added two more runs to its lead. Glen Ambrosius reached base on a fielder's choice, stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw by Temple catcher Andrew Clemens. Cleanup hitter Jeff Gregorio drew a walk, and then Ron Rolph singled home Ambrosius. McCreery then hit a deep grounder to Owls shortstop Cap Poklemba, whose quick throw to second was mishandled by second baseman Tully, loading the bases with only one out. But the Quakers could only manage one more run in the inning off a May sacrifice fly that scored Gregorio and made the score 4-1 Penn after four and a half. The Owls clawed their way back into the game in the bottom of the fifth. A two-run triple from Temple's top hitter, Rob Cucinotta, brought the North-siders back to within one run. By the end of the sixth inning, Mattern had already thrown 120 pitches, so Seddon and pitching coach Bill Wagner brought in junior Matt Hepler to pitch at the start of the seventh inning. "If we pitched [Mattern] any more, we wouldn't have him for the weekend," Seddon said. "You can't let a kid pitch more than that." After a scoreless seventh, Hepler walked Sabolchick to start the bottom of the eighth, and a wild pitch allowed him to advance to second. Next, Hepler walked Bob Filler, but Hepler's fourth ball was also a wild pitch, advancing Sabolchick to third. With runners at the corners and no outs, Seddon brought in freshman Paul Grumet. Grumet struck out his first batter, but then gave up a sacrifice fly to Poklemba that knotted the score at four apiece. A leadoff walk in the bottom of the 10th turned out to be Grumet's downfall. A single, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional pass loaded the bases. Then, substitute designated hitter Kyle Sweppenhiser singled to right center to clinch the win for Temple. Temple pitcher Jeff Rugg silenced the Quakers' bats in relief of starter Chris Joyce. The junior reliever pitched the eighth, ninth and 10th innings for the Owls, his only blemish being a leadoff, warning-track triple to May in the top of the eighth. "We didn't put them away when we had the chance," Seddon said. "We didn't score when we had a runner on third and nobody out." The Quakers only managed one hit -- May's triple -- after the fifth inning, and four times Penn had runners in scoring position with one out or less, but failed to convert. "It's too bad. That ball almost went out of there," Seddon said of May's warning-track shot. "If he hit it anywhere else in the ballpark it was a home run."
