Listening to Lafayette coach Frank Tavani wax philosophical at Saturday's postgame press conference, you might have thought the ghosts of Lombardi and Rockne had lent a hand in his team's victory. "That ball is a funny shape, and it bounces funny ways," he said.

Yale and Harvard's losses on Saturday - at Cornell and at Brown, respectively - weren't just notable because those squads were pegged as the Ivy League's top two teams heading into the season. It was also the first time since Nov. 11, 2006, that the Elis and Crimson lost Ancient Eight games on the same day.

After finishing off a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Harvard at 9 p.m. on a rainy Saturday night, Natalie Capuano and her women's soccer teammates still had one obligation left to fulfill. As two local girls' soccer teams walked onto the field, the victorious Quakers were besieged with autograph requests.

When the Penn wrestling team got the news that its head coach was leaving, the man who will temporarily replace him clutched a notepad on which he had scribbled his thoughts. Rob Eiter wanted to address the team's concerns and make sure, he said, that "nothing got out of hand.

Brown snapped its eight-game losing streak against Harvard on Saturday, coming back and outlasting the Crimson, 24-22, in Providence, R.I. Despite jumping out to an early 13-0 lead by scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions (it missed an extra point), Harvard was soon plagued by costly fumbles, on which Brown capitalized.

At the end of Saturday's game with Harvard, all members of the women's field hockey team lined up and belted out "Drink a Highball," smiles blazing from ear to ear. It was as if they had just won an Ivy League championship. This victory was indeed stirring.

Junior Kate Kosminskaya had never played doubles with Alexa Ely. But the No. 2-seeded duo made the most of their competitive debut, winning the Cissie Leary Tournament when Yale's top team withdrew. Kosminskaya and Ely knocked off the Bulldogs' second-best tandem, Stevi Petrelli and Vicky Brook, in Saturday's semifinals, 8-5.

After the post-game press conference at Lafayette on Saturday, Leopards coach Frank Tavani offered some words of encouragement. "You guys got a good football team," he said. "They're gonna be all right. It's two tough games, I know, but believe me." I believe him.

EASTON, Pa. - Robert Irvin dropped back and let it fly over the middle. Looking to extend the Quakers' furious second-half rally with a fourth-down conversion, Irvin fired a wayward pass to David Wurst on a slant, missing high and setting up Wurst for a crushing meeting with the Lafayette secondary.

Last week, Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller guaranteed that his team would give up a goal at some point this season. It took the Quakers only three minutes and 25 seconds into yesterday's 2-2 tie with Temple to prove him right. Drew Healy's seven-game, 673-minute shutout streak came undone when defender James Suevo hit a header into the back of the net.

Last season, sophomore forward Kristin Kaiser clinched Penn's Ivy League crown with an overtime goal against Princeton. On Saturday, Kaiser helped Penn take a strong first step toward defending its title with a 2-0 victory over Harvard at Rhodes Field. "Its funny, Kristin is a kid who we've talked a little bit about why she's not more confident in herself because she's such a tremendous player," Penn coach Darren Ambrose said.

With eight of 17 players on the Penn volleyball team hailing from California, the Quakers' slate in San Francisco and Moraga, Calif., was supposed to be like three home matches. Indeed, the Red and Blue had plenty of fans in attendance, but that didn't translate into wins.

In a surprise move, Penn wrestling coach Zeke Jones announced his resignation on Saturday in order to become head coach of the United States freestyle national team. Assistant coach Rob Eiter has been appointed as the interim head coach. The announcement comes less than two months before the wrestling team begins its 2008-09 season on Nov.

Torrential rain and an ingrown toenail plagued the men's golf team at this weekend's Cornell Invitational. The final round of play was cancelled before results were made official, leaving the Quakers tied for seventh place with Bucknell. Fifteen teams competed at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Ithaca, N.

The Penn women's soccer team took a strong first step towards defending its Ivy League crown with a 2-0 victory over Harvard at Rhodes Field. Sophomore forward Kristin Kaiser figured prominently in both of the Quakers' goals. At 18:14, Kaiser took a long lead down the left side from Mara Fintz.

At the end of Saturday's game the entire women's field hockey team, smiles blazing from ear to ear, lined up and belted out "Drink a Highball" as though they had just won the Ivy League championship. Indeed, this victory was stirring. Despite embarking on a nasty seven game losing streak which began September 6, the Quakers came out against Harvard with a swagger and topped the Crimson, 2-0, at Franklin Field.

Lafayette's last-second 8-7 victory over Penn last year, which was as ugly as it was close, showed that the Leopards are not the flashiest of football teams. They play a slow-paced game, and their big, bruising offensive line is crucial in their run-first, run-second scheme.