HANOVER, N.H. As Darren Smith's second patented three-pointer from the right corner struck nylon, it looked like Penn had yet another Ivy road blowout in the bag. Five minutes in, the Quakers were up 17-5 against Dartmouth Saturday night after blowing out Harvard in a game that was over by halftime.
The Drexel women's lacrosse team won't be walking far to its first game this year, but it will be uphill all the way. On Saturday, No. 18 Penn will begin its quest for a NCAA Tournament berth when it takes on Drexel at Franklin Field - just a few short blocks away from the heart of Drexel's campus.
"You dance with the girl you bring to the dance." Men's track coach Charlie Powell approaches the signature meet for his team just like any other. "We are going to treat this as business as usual. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel or anything like that," he said.
The Harvard basketball team knew that its season wouldn't get any easier when star center Brian Cusworth was forced to leave the team midseason. And having completed a once-over in the Ivy League, the Crimson have discovered that 2007 would not bring any miracles.
With two weekends and a Penn-Princeton game left in the Ivy League season, three teams are mathematically out of the race, and at least one but most likely two more teams will be out after tonight. That leaves three huge non-Penn games this weekend plus three games for standing purposes only.
With the Ivy Classic this weekend, the Penn gymnastics team faces its biggest test of the season. In arguably its most important meet, the Quakers will face off against Yale, Brown and Cornell. The buzz in the air was evident at practice and with all the Ivies scoring at a similar level, the pressure is on.
With the Ivy Classic this weekend, the Penn gymnastics team faces its biggest test of the season. In arguably its most important meet, the Quakers will face off against Yale, Brown and Cornell. The buzz in the air was evident at practice and with all the Ivies scoring at a similar level, the pressure is on.
The Drexel women's lacrosse team won't be walking far to its first game this year, but it will be uphill all the way. On Saturday, No. 18 Penn will begin its quest for a NCAA Tournament berth when it takes on Drexel at Franklin Field - just a few short blocks away from the heart of Drexel's campus.
"You dance with the girl you bring to the dance." Men's track coach Charlie Powell approaches the signature meet for his team just like any other. "We are going to treat this as business as usual. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel or anything like that," he said.
Although it has already had its most impressive season in a very long time, the Penn men's squash team still has to pass one more test before this year can truly be called a success. This weekend, the Quakers (8-3, 4-2 Ivy) will be playing in the Team Championships in New Haven, Conn.
Heading into the second weekend of a two-part competition such as the Ivy League Round Robin in fencing, all you want is a shot at the championship. Both the Penn men's and women's teams have this opportunity. Problem is, their competition, Columbia (20-1, 5-0 Ivy), does too.
To say the odds were against Dartmouth in its last meeting with Penn might be the understatement of the season. With Leon Pattman out of commission due to illness, the Big Green were forced to face a top-ranked league opponent without their leading scorer in front of the relentless crowd at the Palestra.
On paper, Villanova should be overmatched. But when a team is playing its first game of the season - as is the Quakers' men's lacrosse squad - no one knows what to expect. Yes, Penn has been ranked 13th by Inside Lacrosse, and yes, it did make the NCAA tournament last year.
Michael Dowd is determined not to let the past repeat itself. Last year, his Quakers fell by a score of 5-2 in an early-season match against Maryland in College Park, Md. With memories of last season's defeat fresh in the minds of coaches and players alike, the women's tennis team's match this Saturday against the Terrapins (7-2) represents an opportunity for the Quakers to prove that what took place last season was an aberration.
When the clock hits 0:00 on Saturday night, Joey Rhoads, Ashley Gray, Monica Naltner, and Lauren Pears will walk off the Palestra floor for good. The four seniors will face a daunting challenge as they play first place Harvard (10-12, 8-1 Ivy) Friday night and second place Dartmouth (13-10, 7-2 Ivy) on Saturday.
Punchless Harvard caused Penn no trouble last night as the Quakers remained on the championship track with an 83-67 win in Boston. A 21-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist night from Mark Zoller paced the Red and Blue, who started out on a 7-0 run and never trailed.
Let's talk about the mid-range jumper. The what? The mid-range jumper. Never heard of it. No? Well, do I have news for you. The so-called lost art has been found and will be on traveling exhibition for the rest of the season at gyms around the Ivy League.
If you think having a men's hockey team in addition to men's basketball would get you a full dose of both sports, you might be surprised. At Dartmouth, which has both, fans don't get to see the best of both worlds. The Quakers will head up to Hanover, N.
At a school like Penn, coming from Michigan isn't anything special. But for a women's lacrosse player, claiming the Great Lake State as home is a rarity. Junior midfielder Allison Ambrozy comes from Grosse Point, Mich. Ambrozy is one of only two players not from the Mid-Atlantic or New England, and the only member of this year's squad from west of the Appalachians.
Though the Penn women's lacrosse 2006 campaign yielded a 10-win season for the first time since 1982, their fourth-place finish in the league left them out of the NCAA Tournament and hungry for revenge.
Michael Jordan had to wear his North Carolina shorts underneath his uniform every time he played. Wade Boggs wouldn't be caught dead in the batter's box without eating chicken before the game. And playoff beard? Try an entire season without a haircut. That's what Mark Zoller did for his past two years playing for Penn.
2007 is a new year - and if Penn can overcome some key losses and Ivy League opposition that is among the best in the nation, this may be the Quakers' year to reach the top.
Last year, perhaps Penn's biggest weakness was zone defenses. This trend, which was largely started by then-Brown and current Quakers coach Glen Miller, continued early in this season. But lately, the Quakers have had some more success against the zone. In their 83-71 win Saturday night over Cornell, Penn had 40 offensive possessions against the Big Red's various zone defenses and scored 34 points.
Solutions by The State News
