Now the hard part begins. After cruising through its first seven games with only a single hitch - a road loss to Northwestern - the Penn women's lacrosse team will begin the most difficult part of its schedule tonight when it travels to Baltimore to face dangerous No.

In four straight games before yesterday, Penn's relievers had conceded nine runs in 10 and two-thirds innings. So Quakers coach John Cole was probably not a pillar of confidence as he watched his starting pitcher concede a walk, a single, and a three-run homer to the first three Saint Joseph's hitters he faced yesterday.

Here's a revelation: It gets cold in Philadelphia over the winter. No, not Hanover, N.H. cold or Ithaca, N.Y. cold, but it can be pretty nippy out there. So when the weather heads south of the freezing point, athletic practices move indoors. This is where Penn's athletes get the short end, since the school lacks appropriate indoor facilities.

Jarron Smith just needed a little tweak. The junior starts about every other game, but with a three-for-four day in Penn's 11-5 win over Saint Joseph's in the opening round of the Liberty Bell Classic, he has made his case for a full-time spot out in right field.

The Penn softball team had dug itself into a little hole during the second game of its 7-2 and 8-6 doubleheader losses to Lehigh. Unable to chip away at a 5-1 third-inning deficit in the second game, the Quakers (12-8) badly needed an offensive spark. The bases were loaded as senior Kaelin Ainley stepped to the plate after a Teresa Leyden single up the middle, an error by Lehigh pitcher Tiffany Curtis left Stephanie Reichert safe on first and Julia Cheney walked.

The Quakers open the single-elimination tournament sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies with a home game against Saint Joseph's.

Much has been said about the close of this past basketball season being the "end of an era" for Penn hoops. That may be true, but it may turn out to be something equally important: the beginning of another era for Ivy League basketball - one filled with greater balance and parity.

47 goals allowed. The Penn women's lacrosse team will pass the halfway point of the season tomorrow at Johns Hopkins, and through seven games the No. 16 Quakers still give up less than seven goals per game. Penn's offense, meanwhile, has been putting goals on the board at a clip of over 11 per game.

If you had asked Penn coach John Cole which pitcher he could most rely on this upcoming season, he would almost certainly have mentioned one Doug Brown. Last year, Brown sported a solid 3.70 ERA; in contrast, the staff as a whole finished at 8.

Last year, the Penn softball team limped through the season with only three pitchers. To say that the tables have turned would be an understatement. Two Columbia starters threw and lost complete games against Penn on Sunday. The exact same happened yesterday, as the Quakers swept a doubleheader 5-4 and 13-5.

First-year women's rowing coach Mike Lane was looking to rock the proverbial boat in his team's opening race of the spring. The bigger surprise was that the Schuylkill River did more of the rocking than was planned. At Saturday's Connell Cup, an event that hosted Yale and Columbia, the current, which registered at 15,000 cubic feet per second, swept tree limbs, plants, mud and other types of debris into the water.

MADISON, N.J., March 25 - Competing shorthanded against anyone is difficult, but with the way the NCAA Fencing Championships are set up, it can spell disaster for a team's chance at a title. The Quakers faced just this predicament during the past four days in Madison, N.

Defense may win championships, but offense can win games. The Penn women's lacrosse team proved that on Saturday, defeating Cornell 14-9 in a high-scoring affair on Franklin Field. Unlike their previous two wins when they gave up a combined nine goals, the No.

For the fourth time in five opportunities this season, the Quakers' top reliever blew a save.

MADISON, N.J., March 25 - Penn fencing coach Dave Micahnik described it as "a Berkowsky performance." What was he referring to? It was junior Ron Berkowsky's silver medal finish in foil at the NCAA Championships. "When he does well, it doesn't surprise me," Micahnik said.

You would think that the military would make a tough opponent in an athletic event. But after two straight dominant victories, Penn could get used to facing our nation's military academies, at least on the tennis court. The men's tennis team defeated Army yesterday 7-0 , following its shutout victory over Navy Wednesday.

The Crimson aren't the best lacrosse team in the Ivy League, but they look like it against Penn. In a back-and-forth game, Harvard scored the final three goals, including one only a minute into overtime, for the 7-6 win over Penn. It is the third time in three years the Quakers have lost to Harvard.