Joe Sandberg's hamstring injury in the opener against Lafayette could have been a costly one for Penn, depending on the evaluation. And while the result wasn't all rosy for the Quakers, the team can breathe a deep sigh of relief. "He didn't pull anything -- he just hasn't practiced much and his leg got fatigued," coach Al Bagnoli said yesterday.

They've been heating up halftimes at the Palestra since 2001. But the Quaker Girls dance team has one request: Please don't confuse them with the cheerleading squad.

Dartmouth alum makes Olympics Jarrod Shoemaker might have counted his 2002 Heptagonal championship in cross country as one of his greatest achievements. He's got something a little more notable now. Shoemaker ran the ITU BG Beijing World Cup triathlon in 1:49:44, good for 11th overall.

The Patriot League already has more wins over the Ivy League than it compiled during the entire 2006 season. Fordham, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh won on Saturday, at the expense of Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Princeton, respectively.

Though senior guard Brian Grandieri won't be around past the 2008-09 season, the Penn basketball team might have found the right guy to fill his shoes. Rob Belcore, a 6-foot-5 guard from Loyola Academy in Chicago, has become the second high school senior known to commit to Penn, joining 6-1 point guard Zack Rosen of St.

Running in a race as long as a half-marathon (a whopping 13.1 miles) requires much more than God-given athleticism and endurance. Running in a half-marathon at any kind of pace requires an intangible element. But for veteran runners like 39-year-old Chad Simpson of Virginia Beach, Va.

After the men's soccer team's season-opening 6-2 loss to Seton Hall, coach Rudy Fuller told his team that that if they worked on their defense, everything else would fall into place. With the defense in order, the Quakers finally managed to show their high-powered offense on Sunday against La Salle.

The Penn Cheerleading team, coached by Joe Neary, has made a nice home for itself on the track behind the Penn bench at Franklin Field. And as the team continues to grow in size and scope, there's a good chance that its appearances might not be limited solely to Penn sporting events.

A day punctuated by dismal offense on both sides ended with Lafayette hitting its stride at the worst possible time, handing the Quakers an 8-7 loss in their season opener.

And after a disappointing 0-4 start to the season, a little bit of traction early in the Ivy slate was just what the Quakers were looking for.

The Penn volleyball team went to Washington D.C. and got what it came for - its first win. The Quakers (3-4) beat Lafayette 3-0 on Friday at the American University Tournament but didn't stop there. They went on to sweep both Army and Navy before falling to American in five games in the finals to take second place in the tournament.

The Penn women's soccer team was going for a first this weekend by handing Northwestern its first loss at its brand new stadium, Lakeside Field. But the Quakers would have to settle for a draw. Penn and Northwestern played to a 1-1 tie on Friday night, but the Quakers made sure not to leave the Windy City without a victory as they blew away Loyola-Chicago yesterday, 5-1.

Al Bagnoli and Frank Tavani apparently had different professors for Football 101. They've both certainly been around long enough to form their own viewpoints on the game, but the guys at the helms of the Penn and Lafayette squads certainly have curiously divergent opinions on what constitutes a "pretty" football game.

First-year offensive coordinator Bill Schmitz probably had other thoughts about how the debut of his offense would unfold Saturday. Instead, the loss of its main playmaker proved the kiss of death for his unit, and the Quakers paid the price in the loss column.

Anthony Melillo looked like he had a screw loose. On fourth-and-long and the ball on the one-yard line, Penn was clinging to a 7-3 lead over Lafayette, and Melillo, the trusty veteran punter, was going to have to finesse his way out of a tough situation. But after taking the snap almost underneath the goalposts, he half-faked a punt, danced around the end zone for a few seconds and ducked out of bounds, even though he would have been in no danger of having his kick blocked.

Even though Penn dominated almost all of the 200 minutes it played to win its fourth consecutive Penn Soccer Classic title, it came away disappointed. Playing Hartwick on Friday night under the lights in its home opener, the Quakers came away with an impressive 2-1 victory.

With the season opener fast approaching, there's quite a bit on the minds of Penn football fans. Who will kick? Will the new offense produce? Is Coach Lake still alive? Well now, it's time to address the questions and let the betting begin. Straight from Las Vegas, here is the official 2007 Penn Football bettors' guide.