The Quakers may be down three starters and a key reserve from last season, but their schedule this year won't be any easier.

In every season, there are games with high stakes played on big stages that come to define a team. 

Tough matches for the Quakers culminated in losses to Ivy League foes on opposite ends of the standings. Penn lost to fellow basement-dweller Brown by a score of 3-1, before being dropped by Yale in straight sets.

An emphatic 2-0 win over Brown, Penn’s first over the Bears since 2014, gave the Quakers their first Ivy title since 2010. Penn has the chance to be outright champions with a tie or a win over Princeton next weekend.

Coming off scoreless ties, both Penn and Brown looked for redemption at Rhodes Field. But with another strong defensive display, the Quakers managed to contain the Bears speedy offense en route to a 2-1 double-overtime win.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, Karekin Brooks ran all over Brown's defense, women's soccer clinched a share of an Ivy title for the first time in nearly a decade, and men's soccer finally ended its winless streak.

He alone was more productive than the Bears’ offense at 195 yards, and his rushing efforts stand as sixth-best in a single game in program history.

At the 2017 iteration of Heps, the men’s squad finished in third place while the women’s came in at seventh place. In this year’s edition, both the men and women took a small step back: fourth place for the men, eighth place for the women.

On Saturday, the Quakers celebrated its senior day for five players — Rachel Mirkin, Karen Seid, Sofia Palacios, Page Meily, and Kelsey Mendell — by defeating Brown 1-0. 

Boasting the league's second-ranked scoring offense and defense and with only one loss to undefeated Army, Navy took away the Quakers’ shot at a CSFL championship and ended their 2018 season, downing the Quakers, 20-9.

With rain pouring down and the field a muddy swamp, Penn football took down Brown 13-7 in Providence, R.I. The Nor’easter had a huge effect on the game, causing both offenses to be both literally and figuratively stuck in the mud.

Under the Friday night lights of Franklin Field, the Quakers will welcome Navy in a rematch of last season’s de facto south division championship.

On Tuesday, Penn tied with Temple 0-0 after playing two overtimes. The game marked the Red and Blue’s (2-4-6) seventh time going to overtime this season, and the fifth time Penn has seen its match end in a scoreless draw.

The Quakers (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) can continue climbing out of the bottom of the Ivy rankings with a win this weekend and a Cornell loss to Ivy-best Princeton. A defeat, however, would prove to be not only a probable goodbye to the Ancient Eight crown but also a devastating upset. The Bears (1-5, 0-3 Ivy) currently sit at the bottom of the conference standings amidst a struggle of a season.

This Saturday at Princeton — the host of the Ivy Heps — Dolan’s runners will get their chance.

In the coming offseason, Penn sprint football will be losing the senior defensive back and captain Console, a three-year starter whose impact on the team extends far beyond the field.

A 6-0 victory over Delaware State on Monday night showcased the depth of Penn’s squad, as the win included goals from five different players and highlighted the talent of some of the younger athletes who haven’t seen much of the field throughout the season.