The Penn women's tennis No. 1 doubles team knew they could beat their first-round opponents in the NCAA doubles championship. In fact, they had already topped them in the fall. When advancement in the NCAA tournament was on the line, however, the 29th-ranked team from Arkansas bested the Quakers' Ekaterina Kosminskaya and Julia Koulbitskaya, 6-4, 6-2 May 22 in Tulsa, Okla.

TOWSON, Md. When I joined the Daily Pennsylvanian sports section two years ago, never did I think I would cover an NCAA national championship game. And looking at Penn Athletics history, there's no reason I should have thought so. In the long history of Penn sports, never had a Penn team played in an NCAA-sanctioned championship game of a team sport.

The women's lacrosse team continues its history-making season, even after losing in the NCAA championship game. Yesterday, five members of the team were named to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-American teams. That is the most ever for the program, and only the third time in history that more than one Quaker has been honored.

Coming into Saturday's Women's Lacrosse NCAA quarterfinal against Boston University, sophomore Emma Spiro had a modest 14 goals and two assists in 16 games. So while she has contributed to the Quakers' offense this year, she's rarely been the player of the game.

If you think reading The Daily Pennsylvanian's April Fools issue is funny, writing it is a riot. The joke issue is a time when DP editors can relax and have fun, and that April night two years ago should have been a break from my daily grind as a sports editor.

Thirty-two years ago, Betty Costanza never could have imagined the success that the Penn women's track team would have over the next three decades. That's because there wasn't a varsity team - just a newly formed club squad. She was a pioneer of the program and its first (and, until 2002, its only) head coach.

For the graduating seniors, last weekend's Outdoor Heptagonal Championships was an event to remember. For the rest of the Quakers, it was a track meet they'd rather forget. Stacy Kim was named Co-Athlete of the Meet and Jesse Carlin won the 800-meter title; on the men's side, Tim Kaijala won his second-straight 800m and Mike Hall finished just five points back of first in the decathlon.

Boy, did I get gypped. The Daily Pennsylvanian, like most other campus student organizations, is of the hierarchical sort. You put in the time, you make the commitment, you work your way up and then the perks start rolling in. Well, I put in the time. I made the commitment - half the guys in my fraternity didn't even know me by the time my term as sports editor had finished.

When the women's lacrosse team held its annual winter meeting in early 2005, the freshmen sat in the back of the room, as is customary for the team's youngest members. But when the coaches asked the Quakers what their team goals were, the Class of 2008 had something to say.

The University Board of Trustees Executive Committee heard updates from administrative officials and from the heads of two Trustee Committees at their Stated Meeting Thursday afternoon. After chairman James Riepe opened the meeting, Penn President Amy Gutmann spoke briefly about accolades the University and its researchers and professors had received in the past few months.

Boys in the United States and Asia face more pressure to achieve "normal" height than boys elsewhere in the world, researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found in a new study. The study, released in April, found that male children are twice as likely as girls to be treated with recombinant human growth hormones in the U.

The Boston University women's lacrosse team is in the midst of its best season in program history. BU has won 18 games - tying a school mark set two years ago - including the last 15, its longest winning streak of all-time. It may be the nation's longest winning streak of 2008, but Penn's current 13-game run is second.

TOWSON, Md. - Over the past two years, Northwestern has been the roadblock of the Penn women's lacrosse's team. Coming into tonight's NCAA final, Northwestern had given the Quakers two of their three losses since the start of the 2007 campaign. And tonight, Northwestern remained Penn's fly in the ointment.

The men's heavyweight and women's crew teams get set to push off this weekend in their respective Sprints races. For the heavies, the race marks the beginning of the final leg of a disappointing seasons. For the 20th-ranked women, though, the Sprints is just another step towards national recognition.

He's not the type of player that dunks and draws attention to himself; he comes in there and does what's right for the time. He shoots the three like none other." - Deb Belcore, mother of Penn men hoops recruit Rob If they block us and then kick the shit out of us, fine, but don't try to hurt people, go for the knees, throw forearms, and that's what they were doing to some of the kids.

TOWSON, Md. - Senior attack Rachel Manson's 115 career goals ranks her second all-time in Penn women's lacrosse history. But of all those tallies, No. 115 was the sweetest of them all. With less than 45 seconds left in the second half of non-sudden death overtime in Friday's NCAA national semifinal against Duke, Penn freshman Giulia Giordano earned a free position shot.

On the sidelines of every men's lacrosse game are the familiar faces - head coach Brian Voelker, his assistant coaches and, of course, the players. But for Penn, there's one more person who makes his presence felt as strongly as anyone else: 12-year-old Pat Kelly.