ew England is no stranger to undefeated seasons. After watching their Patriots go a perfect 16-0 in the regular season before losing in Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants, those fans in the Northeast can only hope that the Dartmouth women's basketball team doesn't follow in the Pats' footsteps.

If there's one fact about Ivy League basketball that everyone knows, it's that the "Killer's Ps" of Penn and Princeton dominate. In the first 52 years of the league (1956 to 2007), Penn and Princeton won at least a share of the title 25 times each. On the other hand, both teams have finished in the bottom half of the conference only three times in their histories.

By RICKY KATZ Staff Writer katz@dailypennsylvanian.com Todd Roth has experienced a great deal of success as Penn's top pitcher. As a freshman, the ace was Big 5 Pitcher of the Year, first team All-Ivy and a freshman All-American. Still, all that success does not stop the junior captain from feeling nervous for tomorrow's season opener against Georgetown at La Salle's Hank DeVincent Field.

The Penn women's tennis team has had five different lineups in as many matches this season. On a team that has been plagued by sickness and injury, the Quakers are hoping for a common stroke and consistency that has been sorely lacking in the young season.

If the current economic crisis reinforces one lesson, it is that what comes up must go down. But don't tell that to the players on the Penn softball team. The program, which in recent years has maintained a steady upward trend in wins, has emerged as one of the most formidable threats in the Ivy League - and it hopes to stick around for awhile.

Given time to rest during the doubles matches, men's tennis captain Jonathan Boym enjoyed himself yesterday. "I thought it worked out pretty well," the senior No. 2 said. "I got to watch my teammates play - that was fun - and just warmed up before the singles and went out ready to go.

With their spring break trip to sunny California on the horizon, the men's tennis team only has to endure the frigid Philadelphia air for so much longer. Of course, the northeastern terrain - or rather, the indoor sanctuary - has served the team well thus far.

Jeff Cellucci has got to feel old. It isn't the harsh reality of graduating from college that's making Penn's senior catcher feel less youthful. He's not freaking out about turning 22 next week, either. And although his knees might ache after a doubleheader or a long bullpen session, it's not that his body is giving out on him.

To the untrained eye, fencing might look something like two beekeepers vying to strike each other with swords. There is, of course, slightly more to it than this interpretation implies. In light of the men's team's Ivy League victory on Sunday, perhaps the sport deserves a closer look.

Forget Moneyball. While baseball is largely a game of numbers, no quantitative value can be assigned to the upbeat attitude humming within the Quakers' locker room only days before the season begins Saturday against Davidson and Georgetown. "We want to go down there and execute," junior Steve Gable, a co-captain and the team's starting second baseman, said.

Robin Harris wasn't looking to change jobs. She was more than content chairing the three-person Collegiate Sports Practice at Ice Miller, LLP, and raising three-year-old twin daughters with her husband in Kansas City. Then last fall, the phone rang. "When someone representing the Ivy League calls, you need to listen," she said.

Bower Field - home to club sports such as rugby, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee and soccer - will be closing at the beginning of May to make way for the construction of Penn Park, an expansion of the current recreational and athletic facilities east of campus.

Senior leadership. Or the lack thereof. That's what all of the Penn men's basketball team's problems have boiled down to. At least that's the line coach Glen Miller continues to offer as an excuse after the Quakers dropped two games to Dartmouth and Harvard at the Palestra this weekend.

Pete Carril knows what he wants to do with the notorious basketball schema he devised. "I'm going to get a bunch of gravediggers and bring them up to Princeton and dig a big hole in the ground," the Hall of Fame coach told The New York Times in 2007. "And then bury the Princeton offense once and for all.

Freshman Matthew Sommer is the biggest Penn sports fan on campus, and he has the points to prove it. An enthusiastic participant in the Red and Blue Rewards program, Sommer has acquired 59 points - ten points more than the second-place contender. Having already amassed enough points to acquire a free Qdoba burrito, Famiglia pizza, Penn T-shirt and Penn hamper, Sommer is on the verge of redeeming the 60-point Penn pint-glass set.

Jacqueline Wong was staring defeat in the face Sunday. Down one set and trailing 4-1 in the second against Maryland's Maggie Mackeever, the junior gazed at her opponent and only one thought crossed her mind: "Finish and never give up." That take-no-prisoners attitude paid off as Wong prevailed in dramatic fashion, winning the next five games to claim that set 6-4 and then winning 10-6 in the tiebreaker.

It may have been 20 degrees outside Sunday afternoon, but Levy Tennis Pavilion was burning. Spectators witnessed shouting matches on multiple courts, racquets being tossed and even a post-match verbal altercation between an opposing player and an official.