In a sport like wrestling, you can go from the brink of winning a match to losing it in a matter of seconds if you don't finish strong. For Penn, too many wrestlers just couldn't close out their matches on Sunday as the Quakers fell to No. 12 Hofstra 25-11 in Hempstead, N.

If sophomore wrestler Rollie Peterkin feels he's experiencing some deja vu on Sunday when Penn visits Hofstra, don't blame him. He's already seen his opponent in action.

Saturday's swim meet against Navy will be unlike any other. The Annapolis pool dictates that races are measured in terms of meters instead of the usual yards.

With top-ranked Trinity (7-0) coming to town tonight, the men's squash team finds itself adding new elements to its practice regimen. Contemplating how Penn (5-3) could defeat the Bantams - college squash's premier team for the past decade - one Penn player offered a simple response: "Pray.

With another sub-.500 season in the works, a perpetually half-empty Wachovia Center and a rejuvenated Allen Iverson now snapping nets with the Denver Nuggets, the first month of the 2007-08 season revealed a fundamental truth to the Philadelphia 76ers and their fans: it was a franchise in need of a facelift.

Out of the long list of problems Penn has experienced on the court this season, defending the three-point shot hardly stands out. But three minutes into last night's game at Temple, the Owls had already jumped out to a 12-point lead thanks to five open looks from long range, four of which went in.

No matter how often Glen Miller says he hates them, when you're 5-12, sometimes you just have to accept moral victories. Despite losing by 16 to Temple last night, the Quakers' coach saw his team play with a certain fire that they haven't had perhaps since the North Carolina game.

For South Africa, a net exporter of agricultural products, it may seem strange that the new year brought an import of squash. On Dec. 30, the Penn women's squash team boarded a plane and travelled 25 hours to Cape Town, South Africa. The NCAA allows squash teams to take one trip every four years, and coach Jack Wyant decided to take full advantage of the opportunity this year to give his team a cultural and athletic experience unlike any other.

Thousands of Saint Joseph's basketball fans previously unable to get tickets to home games might have their best shot during the 2008-2009 season. As the Hawks' Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse undergoes a $35 million renovation and expansion, St. Joe's will play next season's home games at the Palestra.

A determined second-half effort proved too little too late for the Quakers, who got off to a familiar nightmare start last night against Temple and fell, 80-64, at the Liacouras Center. Penn (5-12, 0-4 Big 5) lost its third contest in a row - all city-series matchups - to go winless in the Big 5 for the first time since the 2000-2001 season.

This year, the men's tennis team knows better than anyone that sharing is meant for the playground - not the Ivy title race. After two consecutive seasons of settling for joint Ivy League championships, the Quakers seek to shake off their defending co-champion Columbia and win the league outright for the first time in 37 years.

Throughout its history, the Penn wrestling program has built a reputation for producing top heavyweight wrestlers. Most recently, heavyweight Matthew Feast made his run on the Quakers record books. The three-time All-American currently resides at third on Penn's all-time win list, with 118.

When Justin Fox was younger, his father - an excellent tennis player - took him onto the court and taught him how to play. The Long Island, N.Y. native has not put down his racquet since, becoming the No. 2 singles player in the country at the ripe age of 16 and winning the National Open at Texas.

Teams scouting the Owls tend to focus their energies on stopping much-acclaimed junior Dionte Christmas. But while Christmas leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring, senior Mark Tyndale might be Temple's most important player. Second on the team to Christmas in points and rebounds per game with 15.

Last year, the Penn men's basketball team spoiled the homecoming of former coach Fran Dunphy by defeating his new team, Temple, 76-74, at the Palestra. But this season, it's the Owls who look to spoil any chance of the Red and Blue posting a "1" in their Big 5-standings win column.

The men's squash team couldn't have scripted a better way to kick off the new semester. The Quakers played some of their best squash of the season this weekend, knocking off Williams, Amherst and Bowdoin on a demanding road trip that required the team to play three matches in three cities within a 24-hour period.

For the women's swim team, the final score of this weekend's meet against Yale does not tell the whole story. Although the Quakers fell to the Bulldogs 186-114, coach Mike Schnur was more than pleased with the results, calling it the "best meet of the year by far.