The rain poured, the puddles formed and the mud splashed all over the place. In the end, the men's soccer team left Rhodes field with dirty jerseys but a clean record. The Quakers triumphed over Philadelphia Soccer Seven rival Villanova, 3-2, in a definitively messy affair.
Though TV scheduling issues led to a rare 6 p.m. start time for Penn's Saturday meeting at Lafayette, many Quakers were sure to make the most of their twilight kickoff. Their antidote to afternoon atrophy? A little scoreboard watching, 21st-century style. With preseason Ivy favorites Harvard and Yale both opening their Ancient Eight slates early in the day, many members of the Red and Blue employed a marvel of the new millennium to sneak a peak at the box scores.
So far this year the football team has been plagued by its inability to put together two solid halves on both sides of the ball. The Quakers have given up zero points in the third and fourth quarters, yet 38 in the opening two. And the offense has been equally inconsistent, going 70 minutes without scoring before putting up 17 points on 206 yards after the break against Lafayette This trend is nothing new.
Franklin Field, the oldest operating football stadium in the nation, will reach a tremendous milestone when Dartmouth visits this weekend. Saturday will be the 800th Penn football game played there since the facility opened in 1895. "I tell the kids all the time, we're just caretakers," said coach Al Bagnoli, who has led the Quakers to a 62-15 home record during his tenure.
As the starting quarterback for Dartmouth, junior Alex Jenny often surprises people when he reveals his field of study. "Sometimes I get funny looks when I tell people I'm a Math major," he said. "But I like it more than History or English." So when the Big Green visit Franklin Field on Saturday, Penn better watch out for this "cerebral quarterback who knows the offense cold and makes very good decisions with the football," as the Dartmouth Web site describes him.
In its second Philadelphia Soccer Seven match of the season, the men's soccer team hosted Villanova on a muddy field amidst a constant downpour. By the end, the Quakers' uniforms may have been dirtied, but their record remained clean, as they prevailed, 3-2, thanks to a late penalty shot goal by senior midfielder Kevin Unger.
In its second Philadelphia Soccer Seven match of the season, the men's soccer team hosted Villanova on a muddy field amidst a constant downpour. By the end, the Quakers' uniforms may have been dirtied, but their record remained clean, as they prevailed, 3-2, thanks to a late penalty shot goal by senior midfielder Kevin Unger.
Though TV scheduling issues led to a rare 6 p.m. start time for Penn's Saturday meeting at Lafayette, many Quakers were sure to make the most of their twilight kickoff. Their antidote to afternoon atrophy? A little scoreboard watching, 21st-century style. With preseason Ivy favorites Harvard and Yale both opening their Ancient Eight slates early in the day, many members of the Red and Blue employed a marvel of the new millennium to sneak a peak at the box scores.
So far this year the football team has been plagued by its inability to put together two solid halves on both sides of the ball. The Quakers have given up zero points in the third and fourth quarters, yet 38 in the opening two. And the offense has been equally inconsistent, going 70 minutes without scoring before putting up 17 points on 206 yards after the break against Lafayette This trend is nothing new.
The Penn women's soccer team improved to 1-1 in the Big 5 with a 4-2 victory over Saint Joseph's. In a physical match played on a muddy Rhodes Field, the Quakers managed an incredible 15 shots on goal, compared to only two for the Hawks. But thanks to St.
Despite his women's soccer team winning their last two games - against University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Harvard - by a combined score of 5-0, coach Darren Ambrose still feels that there's room for improvement. "I thought we were OK against Harvard [on Saturday]," Ambrose said.
After Sunday's draw with Temple, Penn men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller noted, "When two Philadelphia teams meet, everything goes out the window." Unfortunately for the Quakers, it was their seven-game shutout streak that went out the window against the Owls.
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.
Solutions by The State News
