This Saturday, both Penn lacrosse teams will open their 2017 campaigns. For the women, this will be first test of their No. 11 preseason ranking in this year’s ILWCA poll. As has been the case in the past three years, the Quakers will start off against Delaware, in what has been a notably close rivalry of late.

Penn men’s basketball had a diamond weekend against Columbia and Cornell, winning its first two Ivy League games of the season under immense pressure. The pressure was both expected and self-imposed; the result of an 0-6 run bookended by twin loses to rival Princeton. The Quakers (9-12, 2-6 Ivy) knew that another loss meant the end to their post-season chances, and they responded with two of the most spirited performances to date.

Penn men’s tennis hopes to bring their fiery passion on to the court this weekend as they head to the ECAC tournament for their first post-Valentine’s Day match. In last year’s tournament, the team made it into the winner’s bracket by upsetting Dartmouth 4-3 before ultimately being knocked out by the Crimson to take fourth place.

Through hours of blood, sweat, and tears, athletes spend countless hours training and fine-tuning their skills in order to compete at the highest level when it matters most. After almost a season’s worth of preparation, Penn wrestling will compete in one final meet against Drexel this Sunday in what will be their final chance to iron out any wrinkles before the poignant EIWA and NCAA championships.

The finale of the squash season is upon us as No. 8 Penn prepares for the team championships this weekend. The Quakers will be challenged right off the bat with a first round match Friday against No. 1 Trinity, who defeated Penn 8-1 in January.

After a solid 2016 season, Penn Men’s lacrosse is looking to maintain their level of success but is aiming big in what they hope to achieve in the season that is fast approaching. Last season the team went 8-7 overall, with a 4-2 record in the conference and 4-5 out of conference.

The Quakers have placed third in the Ivy standings four out of the past five years. And, despite owning the league’s best overall record and winning the year-end conference tournament in 2014, Penn has been consistently excluded from the top tier of Ivy League lacrosse.

Seniors Kevin Gayhardt, Eric Persky, and Kevin McDonough combine to form one of the most formidable defensive units in the country. Gayhardt, the captain, is a vocal leader who matches up well with big attackmen, as evidenced by his even battles with Yale’s Reeves last season. Persky is an active on-ball defender who rarely requires a slide. And McDonough’s agility and foot speed make him a nuisance for opposing ball carriers.

This past summer, four sophomore members of Penn men’s lacrosse – Alex Roesner, Simon Mathias and Tyler Dunn on attack and Noah Lejman on defense – traveled to Coquitlam, British Columbia to compete in the FIL U-19 World Championships, the most prestigious international competition for their age group.

Interestingly, not only did the same three teams share the title again, but for the second straight year, they also had the same results against one another at the Ivy League Fencing Round Robins. It’s become a game of rock-paper-scissors between them.

All’s well that ends well. For Penn squash, both the men and women can certainly agree, having each picked up a final win to cap their regular seasons.

Penn wrestling has a lot to feel proud of after this weekend. With two comeback wins against Binghamton and Columbia in an EIWA triple-header, it’s clear the Quakers are never out of it until the last pin or decision of the final match.

In a pair of weekend matches against non-conference foes Wisconsin and Rice, Penn men’s tennis rode the full emotional spectrum from elation to frustration. The weekend started out on a high note for the Quakers (4-3) with a thrilling 4-3 win over the previously unbeaten Badgers (3-1). After losing the doubles point, Penn battled back with singles victories from junior Josh Pompan, sophomore Kyle Mautner and junior Gabe Rapoport.

Coming into the weekend, Penn men's basketball’s chances to make the Ivy League Tournament and compete for a March Madness bid seemed almost nonexistent. The Quakers were not shooting well, and seemed unable to hold teams off down the stretch in games. But by early Sunday afternoon, it appears as though the Red and Blue have life once again.

The floodgates have finally opened. Winless in its first six conference games, Penn men's basketball came out firing on all cylinders this weekend at the Palestra to take down Columbia and Cornell in a sweep of New York’s two Ivy League teams.

This season has not been kind to Penn men’s basketball. Coming into Friday’s game against Columbia, the Quakers were winless in six Ivy League contests and in desperate need of a better performance to have any shot of making the Ivy League Tournament. The Red and Blue were able to gut out the victory on the back of 48 rebounds and 12 three-pointers. Let’s go to the player ratings.

Matt Howard has solved Penn men's basketball’s finishing problem. After watching an 11-point lead slip away in the second half, the senior forward was determined to not let another strong start go to waste. Howard hit a clutch three-pointer with eight minutes to play, cutting a brief Columbia lead down to one. But, it was his defensive closing that sealed the game for the Red and Blue as they went on to win 70-62.