The Penn women’s and men’s squash teams go into the winter break having two somewhat distinct experiences to start their seasons.

A lot can happen in three weeks. When Penn women’s basketball next takes to the court, three weeks will have gone by since the team’s last outing. Last Saturday, the Quakers won a nail-biter against Richmond 47-44, but now they’ll have a new challenge, not playing basketball. “It’s a chance for us to take a little bit of a pause and reflect on where we are at,” coach Mike McLaughlin said.

“Trust The Process.” The phrase is only three words, but for Philadelphia 76ers fans, it has come to mean so much more.

The Penn administration should mandate the attendance of athletic events. That’s right, you heard me.

A year ago, after Penn football won a one-third share of the Ivy League title, I wrote in the columnist issue that Ancient Eight football championships should not be shared. And this year, Penn football has forced me to put my money where my mouth is.

If I told you that Penn could be a great place to be a college sports fan, how would you react? You would probably laugh at me, and for most people, this statement doesn't hold up.

All season long, Penn men's basketball appeared to be on the verge of improvement in coach Steve Donahue’s second year in charge, but the Quakers still needed that signature win to prove to the college basketball world that they were for real. Thanks to a breakout performance from junior Sam Jones, that big-time victory is in the books.

Sometimes, there are just no words. Summing up the experiences of sprint football’s championship season is not a feasible task, but these past few months were so magical, so unprecedented, so perfect, that I owe it to my squad to try. First off, the hunger this team had was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

You can’t achieve greatness without a bit of humility, and Penn wrestling just picked up its fair share of the latter this weekend. In their opening dual meet of the season, the undermanned Quakers were outmatched by a strong Rider team, losing seven of ten individual matches en route to a thorough 32-10 defeat at the hands of the Broncs.

Sports Editor-elect Jonathan Pollack: For me, the best part of Penn Athletics this year was sprint football winning its first outright CSFL title since 2000, so the best moment should come from that season.

With 8:42 remaining in the second half, junior guard Darnell Foreman’s jumper put Penn within two points of George Mason at 57-55. Between that moment and senior guard Matt Howard’s free throw with 3:07 left, the Quakers scored zero points on nine missed shots and a turnover.

For the second time this week, Penn women's basketball went right down the stretch. This time, however, it was much happier with the result.

It was poetic, almost, the transfer of dominance. After senior guard Matt Howard lit things up in the first half, scoring 12 of Penn’s first 15 points, freshman forward AJ Brodeur took over in the second period, tallying 16 of his 22 after intermission.

It’s hard to talk about such an incendiary issue, but I thought it was about time to break the silence. Teams across the Ivy League have been finding themselves in trouble for a month now in what has become a trend of racist, sexist, xenophobic (sound familiar?) GroupMe’s and Google Docs.

This was a game Penn should’ve won. With leads late in both the 4th quarter and overtime, it was the Quakers’ game for the taking.

First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one who’s best at chess. That may not be the way that nursery rhyme goes, but for one Penn squash player, the saying rings true. Junior Anders Larsson has been involved with squash for quite a long time, but for such a physically taxing sport, one of his greatest assets comes from his time playing a board game: chess.

After stringing together strong performances in each of the early season tournaments, the Quakers look to start off Dual Meet Season on the right foot against a strong Rider team.