After being picked to finish dead last in the Ivy League in Baseball America's preseason poll, the Quakers felt they had a lot to show to an audience that was convinced Penn wouldn't improve from last season. But if any doubts remained about the team's talent, they should be silenced after this weekend.
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Sports
Surprise, coach Harris: W. Track cleans up
Penn women's track coach Gwen Harris didn't even know that she had seven first-place finishes. "Really?" she said. "Wow. I knew we did well but . wow, great." It might have been just too many to count as the Penn women scored 81 points at Princeton on Saturday, coming in first and beating track powerhouses Princeton and Yale.
W. Lax: Finally, someone their own size
For the Penn women's lacrosse team, it has been a season of reversing trends and tearing apart opponents that seemed unbeatable in the past.
W. Tennis keeps the important streaks alive
Two loss columns read zero at the end of the weekend. The Penn women's tennis team extend its Ivy win streak to 5-0, while the Quakers' Lauren Sadaka kept her own undefeated run in the spring alive. Harvard and Dartmouth were no match for the Quakers, both falling by 7-0 margins.
Surprise, coach Harris: W. Track cleans up
Penn women's track coach Gwen Harris didn't even know that she had seven first-place finishes. "Really?" she said. "Wow. I knew we did well but . wow, great." It might have been just too many to count as the Penn women scored 81 points at Princeton on Saturday, coming in first and beating track powerhouses Princeton and Yale.
W. Lax: Finally, someone their own size
For the Penn women's lacrosse team, it has been a season of reversing trends and tearing apart opponents that seemed unbeatable in the past.
Chances narrowing for NCAA qualifiers
Both the Penn men's and women's track teams will be in action this weekend, but the teams will only share one thing in common. And if it's not the venue, the objective or the opponents then what is it? The weather. Both teams are hoping that good old Mother Nature can give them a good weekend in order perform at their highest levels.
Cornell series to bring Rolfe title chase into focus
There are only four teams in the Gehrig Division of the Ivy League. Yet Penn has not finished with even a share of first since Mark DeRosa's senior season ten years ago. Sole possession has eluded them for even longer. The Quakers (13-14, 7-5 Ivy) can take a huge step towards erasing that futility this weekend when they take on first-place Cornell (12-14, 5-3).
At 2-3 with one Ivy League game to play, the men's lacrosse team is out of title contention. And at 5-5, the possibility of an NCAA Tournament bid is getting dimmer and dimmer. "We talked about it [yesterday] after practice, we just want to go out with some pride," sophomore attacker Craig Andrzejewski said.
W. Tennis may catch a break against Harvard
No one on the women's tennis team knows what it feels like to beat Harvard. But the Quakers are hoping to change that by the time they fly back from New England on Saturday night. Penn's critical weekend starts on Friday at Harvard (3-12, 1-1) before they travel to Hanover to take on Dartmouth (8-7, 0-2) Saturday.
Softball: To make a good lineup better, King relies on Kinsey to set the table
Annie Kinsey hasn't always been the leadoff woman for the Penn softball team. But she'll find herself in the No. 1 position when Cornell (26-7, 7-1 Ivy) visits Warren Field for two doubleheaders this weekend. After moving up from the No. 3 slot last year, Kinsey has experienced success in her new role.
3-0 and facing Harvard; this sounding familiar?
For the second straight weekend, the Penn men's tennis team will be doing more than just facing Ivy League foes - it will be trying to erase the past. With their victory over Brown last Saturday, the Quakers avenged the loss that kept them out of last year's NCAA Tournament.
In defensive battle, Quakers drop the ball
La Salle entered yesterday's game with four home runs in 26 games and a slugging percentage that resembled a batting average. The Explorers' modus operandi is no secret - grab a few runs here and there, and lock down with pitching and defense. Thanks in part to Penn's sloppy fielding, the plan worked to perfection.
Matt Meltzer: Freshmen sweeping down to lift program up
With 10 games left in the season, the baseball team has already won more games than in either of the two previous seasons. Penn (13-14, 7-5 Ivy) owes a lot of that success to a deep and talented freshman class. There are 11 freshmen on the roster and they are pivotal to the team.
Penn breaks La Salle's rhythm, but can't stop the beat
In what should have been a tune-up for this weekend's series, Penn couldn't get anything going, falling 6-3 to the Explorers.
For a program desperate for respect, Tommy Amaker is a match in more ways than one. Amaker, who has spent the last 13 years coaching big-time basketball at Michigan and Seton Hall, has accepted an offer to become the new head man at Harvard.
Wait 'til next year, again
Penn just can't beat Princeton. The Quakers fell for the 18th straight time to their lacrosse rivals from New Jersey last night, 10-5.
Report: Amaker will enter the Crimson ranks
Is this a big enough name for you? Tommy Amaker has been offered the job at Harvard and is expected to take it, according to a report in yesterday's Boston Globe. The Globe had previously reported that Amaker went to Boston to interview for the job on Friday.
Zachary Levine: Hey, five outta nine ain't bad
It's hard to believe how far we've come since Sept. 6. Back when Penn had only won six of the last nine Ivy League basketball titles, Joe Scott still coached Princeton, and Steve Irwin was still alive. But it was that day that I made 10 predictions for the year in Penn and Ivy League sports, and now it's time to see how I did.
It's hard to put together 60 minutes of good lacrosse, but at this point Penn will take 20. In their last four Ivy games, the Quakers had managed a 2-2 record despite winning only five of 16 quarters, and it finally caught up to them last night against Princeton.














