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Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026
The Daily Pennsylvanian
According to senior sports reporter Thomas Munson, sports have never been more important in life, providing an escape and healing to those jaded by the 2016 presidential campaign.

Tonight, the most important — and divisive — election of our lives is finally coming to close. Politics has dominated conversation and the news for months, and yet, sports have never been a more important part of my life.


The season ended, but there are still awards left to be had. On Monday, despite Penn women’s soccer’s 1-1 draw on the road at Princeton, freshman Emily Sands was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Sands was responsible for the Quakers’ lone goal on the road, scoring the equalizer in the game’s 28th minute after catching Princeton off-guard with a stunning left-footed shot to the upper-right corner of the net. This marks the fourth time this season the Red and Blue have taken home Ivy League Rookie of the Week this season — with Sands earning three and classmate Kitty Qu taking home the remaining one. Sands is just the second Penn player ever to earn three such awards, with Kerry Scalora having matched the feat in 2010 — only one player in Ivy history has every won more than three Rookie of the Week awards: Princeton’s Mimi Asom won the honor six times last season. Scalora went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2010 and ended up a three-time All-Ivy honoree in her time in University City.

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Buchta | Sports suck

By Nick Buchta · Nov. 8, 2016

Wednesday was the one of the worst days of my life. I got up early, made the six-hour drive from Philly to Cleveland, took the train downtown with some friends and went to a baseball game. A lifelong Indians fan, the chance to go to game seven of a World Series was absolutely surreal.


Senior sports editor Nick Buchta may have had a nosebleed view of Game 7 of the World Series, but he still felt a connection more intimate than ever with the Indians after their ten-inning loss. 

Buchta | Sports suck

By Nick Buchta · Nov. 8, 2016

Wednesday was the one of the worst days of my life. I got up early, made the six-hour drive from Philly to Cleveland, took the train downtown with some friends and went to a baseball game. A lifelong Indians fan, the chance to go to game seven of a World Series was absolutely surreal.


Thanks to her equalizer against Princeton on Saturday, Penn women's soccer's Emily Sands won her third Ivy League Rookie of the Week award on Monday.

The season ended, but there are still awards left to be had. On Monday, despite Penn women’s soccer’s 1-1 draw on the road at Princeton, freshman Emily Sands was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Sands was responsible for the Quakers’ lone goal on the road, scoring the equalizer in the game’s 28th minute after catching Princeton off-guard with a stunning left-footed shot to the upper-right corner of the net. This marks the fourth time this season the Red and Blue have taken home Ivy League Rookie of the Week this season — with Sands earning three and classmate Kitty Qu taking home the remaining one. Sands is just the second Penn player ever to earn three such awards, with Kerry Scalora having matched the feat in 2010 — only one player in Ivy history has every won more than three Rookie of the Week awards: Princeton’s Mimi Asom won the honor six times last season. Scalora went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2010 and ended up a three-time All-Ivy honoree in her time in University City.














Womens soccer v Cornell

All’s well that ends well.  Penn women’s soccer has adapted that mindset as they look to close out the 2016 season at Princeton this Saturday. After battling back against Brown during Homecoming, the Quakers (9-3-3, 2-2-2 Ivy) managed to secure a draw and one point to stay ahead of the fifth-place Tigers (10-4-2, 2-3-1). Although there will be no postseason for Penn this year, the intensity is as high as ever. For Senior Paige Lombard, this historic rivalry is more than enough motivation for her squad.


Sophomore epee Justin Yoo was perhaps the biggest contributor to Penn's fencing Ivy title last year, and the team will need him to perform just as well this year, starting this weekend at the Elite Invitational.

Two top ten football teams collide this Saturday when the Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in primetime. Although that lede might appear to be misplaced in a fencing article, the all-important Big Ten showdown is the reason the Elite Invitational returns to Penn for the second consecutive year instead of alternating to Ohio State.




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