With the chance to give her team a commanding three-point lead late in the second set, Penn's Julia Swanson made a critical error blocking Columbia sophomore Colleen McNutt, allowing the Lions to close the gap to 21-20. On the next play, Swanson exacted her revenge.

By BRANDON MOYSE Senior Sports Editor bmoyse@dailypennsylvanian.com The margin for error in soccer is perhaps the narrowest of any team sport. One shot, one bounce or one penalty can make all the difference. "It's a funny game in that regard," Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller likes to say, something he repeated after last Saturday's match with Columbia.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 11 On 1st and 10 from the Georgetown 47 late in the first quarter, running back Mike DiMaggio sprinted right on an off-tackle run. As the sophomore tried to hurdle, defensive back Sean McNally hit his legs from underneath, and with a thud he landed square on his left shoulder, in visible pain.

By RICKY KATZ Contributing Writer dpsports@dailypennsylvanian.com Through 30 minutes last night, the Penn field hockey team hung tight with No. 16 Drexel. Then came the second half. After the break, upfield pressure prevented the Quakers from moving the ball into Dragons territory.

With its fall season nearing an end, the Penn men's tennis team descended upon New York City along with 11 other schools for the Columbia Classic. But in the 'B' singles final, only Quakers took center stage, as freshman Phil Law beat classmate and teammate Jason Lin to take the championship.

It's official: Brian Fitzpatrick, a 6-foot-8 forward from Northfield, Mass., committed to Penn on Tuesday, his father confirmed last night. He's the second recruit for coach Glen Miller's Class of 2013, joining guard Carson Sullivan, who committed in early October.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 11 - Junior Chris Wynn caught the opening kickoff, burst through what he called an "enormous hole" and in only 13 seconds, gave the Quakers a 7-0 lead. Fifty-nine minutes and 47 seconds of dominating play later, Penn left the nation's capital with a 27-7 win over Georgetown.

Men's tennis coach Nik DeVore likes winning - but he sees an advantage to losing, too. "Losing matches is not such a bad thing because then we get to play consolation games," DeVore said. Consolation matches, and the experience that comes with them, should not be hard to come by for the Quakers today at the Columbia Invitational in New York.

As the women's tennis team heads to Flushing Meadows - the annual site of the U.S. Open - coach Mike Dowd hopes his players will be able to enjoy New York City. But he also has moderately lofty goals for this weekend's National Tennis Center Invite, which he hopes will give his young team some valuable experience.

Penn men's soccer captain John Elicker has a chip on his shoulder. That may be surprising, considering his 7-1-3 Quakers just lost their first match of the season and reeled off seven straight shutouts to open their schedule. But heading into tomorrow night's match at Rhodes Field against Columbia (2-6-1), Penn's previously impregnable defense has looked very vulnerable, surrendering eight goals in its last four games.

Chris Wynn set the tone when he returned the game's opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, as the Quakers cruised to a 27-10 win over Georgetown. Bradford Blackmon was out with a sore ankle and Mike DiMaggio was a non-factor, but freshman Matt Hamscher - seeing his first NCAA action - more than picked up the slack.

Some coaches may look at a match between Penn and Columbia's women's soccer teams and ask: How do the Quakers plan on stopping the Lions' potent duo of Sophie Reiser and Ashlin Yahr? But Quakers coach Darren Ambrose looks at it another way: How does Columbia plan on stopping Penn's Sarah Friedman, Molly Weir, Ursula Lopez-Palm and Marin McDermott? Ambrose is confident that when Columbia (8-2-1, 2-0-0 Ivy) visits Rhodes Field for a pivotal Ivy matchup tonight, his Quakers (6-3-1, 2-0-0) "will be able to control the tempo, play at our pace . and essentially impose ourselves.

The question for Yale is: How long until Mike McLeod's numbers matter? How long can the running back's production drop like subprime mortgage values before it is impossible to deny that something is off? Coach Jack Seidlecki and McLeod himself have said that he is healthy, and pointed out the obvious - McLeod is leading the Ivy League in rushing, at 88.

Sun Tzu once said: "Every battle is won before it is fought." Or was it Penn field hockey midfielder Rachel Eng? At least, those are the sentiments she echoed as the Quakers (2-8, 1-2 Ivy) get set to face No. 1 Maryland (11-1) on Sunday at College Park and then No.

The Penn volleyball team split its Fall Break matches, losing, 3-1, at Cornell on Friday before sweeping Columbia one day later. The Quakers jumped out to an early first-set lead against the Big Red and held on for most of the set. But up, 18-13, the Red and Blue came unwound and dropped 10 of the next 12 points en route to a 25-22 Cornell win.

This week in practice, the volleyball team pitted its starters against the reserves, with the former challenged to win the set down 20-17. "We couldn't get it for the first five times, and then they started to shrivel like they did against Princeton," coach Kerry Carr said.

Who has a bye in college football? Few other than Georgetown, which enters its home game with Penn tomorrow fresh from two weeks' rest after a stomach virus outbreak forced its game against Colgate to be cancelled. Contrast that with the Quakers (1-2, 1-0 Ivy), who are a bit beaten up.