The Quakers could not pull out the win against Princeton, falling in the five-set battle at home Friday. It was deja-vu Sunday, as Penn fell to a different Tigers team: Towson.

The outcome of the football game Saturday wasn’t the result of the Quakers’ inability to execute plays. Rather, Penn’s loss to Villanova was due to the failure of the coaches to adjust to the demands of the game.

The Penn men’s soccer team took on Rider Sunday to grab its second win of the season, 7-2, after gaining its first ‘W’ Friday against Fairleigh Dickinson as part of the Princeton Tournament.

With four seconds remaining on the game clock, the Quakers found a way to defeat the team that knocked them out of title contention last season.

A mid-game quarterback change did little to change the Quakers’ offensive fortunes and Penn failed to snap its 101-year skid against Villanova, falling 24-8.

The Crimson, who will take on the Quakers at Franklin Field on Saturday morning, have scored just three goals in five games so far this season.

Going into the Ancient Eight schedule with their preseason record a draw, the Red and Blue know they must now make progressive steps forward from here on out.

At 0-6, the Penn men’s soccer team has matched the worst start to a season in program history. The 1992 squad also dropped its first six games, but no team has ever lost its first seven matches in the program’s history. The Red and Blue hope to keep it that way this weekend, as they face Fairleigh Dickinson and Rider at the Princeton Tournament.

Penn’s last win against Vilanova was a 22-0 victory at Franklin Field in October 1911. Still, the Quakers have what it takes to unseat the Wildcats this year.

The last time Penn football beat Villanova, President Taft was still in office. The year was 1911.

The Quakers (3-3) open Ivy League play Friday when they host reigning Ivy champion Harvard (3-2-1). Penn missed out on an automatic NCAA bid last season by finishing a game behind the Crimson. Harvard was the only Ivy team to beat Penn, 2-0.

The schedule says the Penn women’s soccer team is only six games into its season, but the Quakers are preparing to begin what amounts to a high-stakes, seven-game playoff.

Elizabeth Hitti’s goal with just over five minutes remaining gave Penn a 4-3 win over La Salle and the oh-so-desperate boost it needed heading into its Ivy home opener against Harvard on Saturday.

For the last three years, the number ‘12’ has carried weight with the Penn soccer team. Thomas Brandt wore the number during both years of his captaincy, and after Brandt’s graduation, junior Jonny Dolezal took over the number as well as the captaincy.

Wednesday night at Delaware, the Quakers (5-5) defeated the Blue Hens (3-10), 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 15-13), winning the final three sets to secure a .500 record entering conference play.

Sitting in third place after the first round of the Adams Cup of Newport tournament early Monday, Penn faded badly into the pack to ultimately post an eighth-place showing.

Conner Scott and Lyle Marsh put all doubts to rest in their first games back after both suffering season-ending injuries last year.