Looking to expand their games as much as possible, junior Miles Cartwright, his fellow classmate Fran Dougherty and sophomore Renee Busch took their talents, not to South Beach, but across the Atlantic.

After spending eight years guiding the archrival Princeton Tigers men’s cross-country team, Steve Dolan has taken over as the newly minted director of Cross Country and Track and Field for both the Penn men and women.

With just two matches under their belts, the Quakers are already 2-0 and off to their best start since 1997 after defeating Lehigh and Towson in a pair of weekend games at Franklin Field.

After initially struggling to find an offensive rhythm in matches against James Madison and Temple, the Penn women’s soccer team ultimately delivered at Rhodes Field and defeated both opponents, 2-1 and 2-0, respectively, to open the season.

With wins over La Salle and Villanova over the weekend, the Red and Blue improved their overall tournament record to 9-3.

Following their loss to Lafayette Friday at Rhodes Field, the Quakers fell again Sunday in double overtime to New Hampshire, 2-1. The two losses marked the first time since 2003 that Penn dropped its first two home matches.

For the purpose of this column, I don’t have the good fortune of taking one risk — in this case, making a sports prediction for the upcoming year — and immediately walking away with my earnings, never to return. Oh no, I’m in it for the long haul. The following are my predictions; come April I’ll be happy just to get my 20 bucks back.

After losing 33 seniors and 11 All-Ivy players a year ago, the Quakers entered 2011 the preseason favorite, but an unprecedented third straight Ivy title eluded the Red and Blue. But players, many returning this year, gained valuable experience along the way.

After winning back-to-back Ivy championships, the Quakers found 2011 to be a more challenging year, as they finished in fifth place. But this year, coach Kerry Carr believes an infusion of new faces both will propel Penn to the front of the Ancient Eight standings.

There are voids on the pitch, barely visible, but the Penn men’s soccer team is asking everyone to pay no attention to the men of yesteryear. Yes, former stars Jake Levin, Christian Barreiro and two-time captain Thomas Brandt are gone, but coach Rudy Fuller doesn’t want his team to grieve.

Thanks to the return of several key components from last year’s squad, the Quakers are in a good position to make a run at the Ivy title.

Picked first in this year’s Ivy Preseason Media Poll, it’s Harvard that is now watching the Throne. And the Quakers? They’re perfectly fine with that. In fact, they’re better than fine.

Susan Francia became the first female Penn alum to ever win two gold medals in a single event.

With three assistant coaching vacancies this summer, head coach Jerome Allen quickly found the right people to step into the positions.

Penn doesn’t have a varsity figure skating team. But maybe now that 2012 graduate Ami Parekh is looking to become the first figure skater to go to the Olympics from the University, they may look to promote the club sport.

Three of the four goalies who were selected had previously played on the national team. Leitner, who graduated in the spring, knew going in that the competition was going to be very tough.

Like Voiro and Van Roten, Barreiro said that while it’s not easy to go from Penn to the big leagues, persistence is the key to making it.