After a six-year absence from the NCAA College Cup, what was another half hour of waiting? Crammed into the men's basketball locker room at the Palestra, the Penn women's soccer team gathered in front of a television to find out its NCAA College Cup matchup and location on ESPNews' selection show at 8 p.m. last night.

As Mayor-elect Michael Nutter prepares to assume office in January, he hopes to change the way things operate in City Hall. Running a campaign against corruption and Philadelphia's rising murder rate, Nutter promises a break with the past and fresh new ideas to revitalize the city.

The rebuilding process has officially begun, and it sure isn't pretty. In fact, the first several weeks of this season could get very ugly, especially when the Tar Heels come to town. But I'm not ready to write the Quakers off just yet. Since the men's basketball team has enjoyed so much success over the past several years, the Penn faithful has almost started to take winning Ivy titles and getting to the NCAA tournament for granted.

Penn President Amy Gutmann raked in $777,692 in total compensation in 2005-06, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's annual survey released yesterday. The total placed Gutmann second among Ivy League leaders, only trailing Yale University's Richard Levin, who earned $869,026.

How do you say Locust Walk in Taiwanese? Some of Penn's 3,484 international students may be able to tell you. Penn ranked No. 10 out of 20 schools for hosting the highest number of foreign students in the academic year 2006-2007, according to a report published yesterday by the Institute of International Education.

Drexel rarely wins at the Palestra. Coach Bruiser Flint is 3-11 at "College Basketball's Most Historic Gym" since taking over the Dragons in 2001. But he's not completely savoring the most recent victory, a 67-59 overtime victory over Penn on Friday. In fact, he wishes it had come at his own DaskalakisAthletic Center.

Despite three hung juries in the murder trial of Wharton student Irina Malinovskaya, experts say a fourth trial is still a distinct possibility. Lead prosecutor Paul Wallace declined to comment on the possibility of a fourth trial, but experts say the state could take the rare step of retrying Malinovskaya for a third time.

Daniel Schwartz is a College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.

His team down two points with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, Penn's Mike Kach stepped to the foul line for one critical shot. All eyes weren't on him. A few were on coach Glen Miller, who had ventured on to the court waving his arms and yelling "MISS IT!" Penn needed two points.

The judge in the murder case against Economics professor Rafael Robb is considering whether to hold a hearing about the admissibility of testimony from two mental-health experts.

A new Engineering program is trying to get more women involved in labs, experiments and science-based careers. The Advancing Women in Engineering program, which took off last month, is the School of Engineering and Applied Science's newest recruitment tool, aimed at increasing the number of women interested in engineering at Penn and elsewhere.

BOSTON, Nov. 10 - There is only one game left in the football season, but the pieces have yet to come together for Penn's offense. The Quakers went a staggering 0-for-14 on third down in the second half of its 23-7 loss at Harvard on Saturday, and struggled to find the end zone despite fantastic field position.

The Division of Public Safety issued an alert late Monday night after a female student was sexually assaulted Monday morning inside an apartment on the 4000 block of Spruce Street. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said police believe the assault was a stranger-rape, but could not immediately provide any more details.

BALTIMORE, Nov. 11 - Penn coach Glen Miller was expecting some growing pains. But these really hurt. There's no doubt the Quakers are especially sore after yesterday's loss 89-68 to Loyola Maryland. "It was just a disappointing effort from our standpoint," Miller said.

Wrestling produces 2 champs at tourney Penn's wrestling team initiated the season with some promising performances. The Binghamton Open held Saturday in Johnson City, N.Y. was the first trial for the relatively young and inexperienced No. 23 Penn team. Andrew Gold and Cesar Grajales highlighted Penn's performance with a pair of championships.

In taming the Princeton Tigers last Saturday at Rhodes Field, the Penn women's soccer team secured an automatic bid to the NCAA College Cup and clinched a share of the Ivy crown. For this year's squad, that wasn't quite enough. The Quakers overcame what their coach deemed an early week "celebratory hangover" to outlast the Crimson 1-0 Saturday afternoon in Cambridge, Mass.

How's this to cap off a career day? Carrie Biemer hit a turnaround jumper at the last seconds of the Quakers' game against Elon Friday, securing a 56-54 victory. Biemer put up a career-high 28 points in the game and was named most valuable player of the contest.