Looking back on another spectacular season that ended in heartbreak for the women's lacrosse team, coach Karin Brower still has a lot to be happy about.

Man, was that fun. Along with thousands of my Phillies brethren, I made the trek down to the Big Apple and Citi Field for Tuesday night's heavyweight bout between the Fightins and the hated New York Mets - the two contenders in a budding local rivalry that is gaining steam nationally.

Anna Aagenes was just a second away from automatically qualifying for next week's NCAA Track and Field Championships. Now, she'll have to wait a whole year before she can redeem herself. The junior competed at the NCAA East Regional Championships in Greensboro, N.

They may be amateurs, but they proved they can play with the pros. The City 6 All-Stars - a compilation of the best college softball players at Philadelphia schools - held their own in an exhibition game against the city's Pro Fastpitch League franchise, the Philadelphia Force.

Darryll Oliver's performance at last weekend's NCAA East Regional Championships summed up the event for the men's track and field team: lots of talent but little results. None of the eight members of the Penn team were able to qualify for NCAA Championships next week, which requires finishing in the top five in an event or posting one of the best marks of the nation's remaining athletes.

Penn's best underdog story of the year had to wait until after graduation. With several seniors fresh out of cap and gown, the women's Club Ultimate Frisbee team ventured to the Midwest for the UPA College Women's Championships last weekend. The team, known by its members as Team Venus, didn't leave Columbus, Ohio with the trophy.

Anna Aagenes and the Penn women's track and field team were in top form during competition at the ECAC Outdoor Championships May 15-17. Unfortunately for the Quakers, it did not amount to much on the scoreboard. With her fourth-place finish in the 800-meter on the event's final day, Aagenes garnered all five points scored by the Quakers at the meet.

While his team was unable to reclaim the Madeira Cup from Cornell this year, Penn men's heavyweight rowing coach Fred Honebein is hoping that the Quakers can follow the blueprint to success their rivals followed. In its final home regatta of the season, the team lost every head-to-head race to the Big Red Friday on the Schuylkill River.

Leaving Johnny Unitas Stadium last Friday, I was still processing what I had just seen. The women's lacrosse national semifinal between Penn and Northwestern certainly had its boring parts, but the end was a frenetic, frenzied finish that had everyone on the edge of their seats.

For eight members of the Penn men's track and field team, it's time to kick it up a notch. Fatigue and some seniors' conflicts with graduation limited the squad's success at the IC4A Outdoor Championships May 15-17. But tomorrow and Saturday, eight standout Quakers will face the biggest challenge of their season at the NCAA East Regional Championships in Greensboro, N.

Updated May 23 3 p.m. TOWSON, Md., May 22 - Penn almost pulled off one the biggest comebacks in NCAA history, yet fell just short of the incredible. Down 11-7 with 9:14 to go in the NCAA national semifinal against No. 1 Northwestern, the No. 4 Quakers tallied four straight goals, sending the game into overtime.

The women's lacrosse team pulled out a 9-8 overtime victory the last time they faced Duke, in last year's NCAA Tournament Final Four. Now, with last season in the back of their minds, the two teams will square off once again, though this time it's one round earlier.

Penn is the best four years of your life, I was told. And boy, were they ever. But at a time like this, who can help but think about regrets? I am now staring post-graduation life in the face, and I have to wonder if the years I spent here were enough to make me the kind of man I want to be.

The days of Penn being a national basketball powerhouse may be gone, but give the Quakers a frisbee and a field, and they can compete with the best in the country. For the first time since 1996, the women's Club Ultimate Frisbee team is headed to Nationals.

Sophomore Darryll Oliver sat out much of this winter's indoor track season with an ankle injury, and struggled with the flu last week. Yet if you watched the 800-meter race at Saturday and Sunday's Outdoor Heptagonal Championships, you certainly couldn't tell.

"You. I'm glad to see you here," Cindy Shmerler said as she pointed directly at me. I was confused. It took a moment for me to realize why Cindy had singled out me. It was The Daily Pennsylvanian's annual Marquez Conference in the fall of 2007 and Cindy, serving as a panelist, and I were the only two females sitting in the room for the sports writing session.