After 70 minutes against Cornell last season, the Penn field hockey team was heading for overtime and teetering on the brink of a 1-5 start. But Kathryn Rose deflected a penalty-corner shot into the net and with it, the Quakers' season back into Ivy League relevance.

I know what you're thinking. After the release of a college fantasy football game that uses the real names of student-athletes, what else can we do to make a profit off the blood and sweat of unpaid college kids? With that, the second-annual Penn football official bettors' guide is here to advise you in all of your Ivy League football gambling endeavors.

Penn has endured many heartbreaking losses since senior linebacker and defensive captain Jay Colabella first arrived in West Philadelphia four summers ago. But perhaps no losses have been more frustrating than the ones at the hands of the Quakers' cross-town rival, Villanova.

The contest was billed as The Game of The Century. On a rainy Saturday in 1993, Penn and Princeton faced off at Franklin Field, each bringing a 7-0 record. The last time two undefeated teams had met this late into a season was 1968. In front of a Homecoming crowd of over 35,000, Princeton got the ball first - but wouldn't have it for long.

Drew Healy rewrote the Penn record books on Friday night with his fifth consecutive shutout, but the Quakers had to settle for a scoreless, double-overtime draw with visiting Buffalo. In their first game of the Penn Soccer Classic, the Quakers (3-0-2) came out firing on all cylinders, but a 30-minute injury delay robbed them of their momentum, after Buffalo defensive back Eric Johnson went down with post-concussion symptoms.

Robert Irvin - he's in the game. That game would be EA Sports' NCAA 09. And, perhaps in a testament to its realism, Irvin takes his shoulder troubles into the digital world. In a PS2 simulation of the 2008 season, the Quakers finished 7-3 (5-2 Ivy), tied with Harvard atop the Ivy League for their first title since 2003.

Mike Whittington won a national championship with Notre Dame in 1977, as Joe Montana quarterbacked the Fighting Irish to an 11-1 season. Then the linebacker joined the New York Giants for four years, playing alongside Hall of Famers Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor.

In its first four games of the season, the men's soccer team has looked impressive, going 3-0-1 without allowing a single goal. Up to this point, however, Penn has done it all away from home, winning tournaments at Marquette and then at Princeton. That changes this weekend, when the Quakers host Buffalo tonight and Mercer on Sunday afternoon as part of the seventh annual Penn Soccer Classic.

In the interest of team chemistry, many athletes take great pains to keep from airing their dirty laundry in the locker room. For the Penn football team, the formula is far simpler: Just give it to Jordan Manning. The Quakers senior enters his third season as starting strong safety - and his second as assistant to the squad's althletic equipment administrator, a work-study position that leaves him in charge of the post-practice laundry load for the Red and Blue.

Reeling from four straight losses, Penn coach Kerry Carr has devised a master plan. "We're going to work on winning," she said. The Quakers will face La Salle, Bucknell and Villanova at the Villanova classic today and tomorrow, before returning to the Palestra to take on Seton Hall on Sunday.

Penn senior Natalie Capuano leads the women's soccer team with an impressive three goals in four matches on the young season. But even more impressive is a Georgetown defense that has allowed a total of two goals in six games - which makes Capuano's individual scoring average more than double that of the Hoyas' opponents.

Not again. The Penn football team began its 2008 season the way it has endured the last few -- with another overtime loss, this time 20-14 to Villanova, that tugged at heartstrings and will test the mettle of a young team. Penn had taken a 14-7 lead on a Mike DiMaggio run and was even with the No.

In February, athletic director Steve Bilsky became the first prominent Ivy League official to speak out against financial-aid competition among the conference schools, which he believes could give some a serious leg up on recruiting and relegate others - the poorer ones, to be blunt - to a second tier.

Last year, Harvard's football team lost just two games - one on a 40-yard pass with 19 seconds remaining to Holy Cross, the other on a fumble return for a touchdown with 30 seconds left against Lehigh. In the Ivy League, the Crimson rolled to six straight victories, setting the stage for an epic matchup with 9-0 and 11th-ranked Yale to determine the 2007 Ancient Eight champion.

On the first possession of its second game of 2007, Brown lost tailback Dereck Knight to a foot injury. He had run for 208 yards on Opening Day, but that misstep put Knight out of commission for the rest of the year. With him went any semblance of a running game.

For Jonathan Boym, the USTA Intercollegiate Competition this weekend is the beginning of his swan song, a final chance to wash away the bitter taste of his junior year campaign. Boym, along with the now-graduated Jason Pinsky, co-captained the Quakers to a 12-11 mark in their 2007-08 season.