Heading into the second weekend of a two-part competition such as the Ivy League Round Robin in fencing, all you want is a shot at the championship. Both the Penn men's and women's teams have this opportunity. Problem is, their competition, Columbia (20-1, 5-0 Ivy), does too.

To say the odds were against Dartmouth in its last meeting with Penn might be the understatement of the season. With Leon Pattman out of commission due to illness, the Big Green were forced to face a top-ranked league opponent without their leading scorer in front of the relentless crowd at the Palestra.

On paper, Villanova should be overmatched. But when a team is playing its first game of the season - as is the Quakers' men's lacrosse squad - no one knows what to expect. Yes, Penn has been ranked 13th by Inside Lacrosse, and yes, it did make the NCAA tournament last year.

Michael Dowd is determined not to let the past repeat itself. Last year, his Quakers fell by a score of 5-2 in an early-season match against Maryland in College Park, Md. With memories of last season's defeat fresh in the minds of coaches and players alike, the women's tennis team's match this Saturday against the Terrapins (7-2) represents an opportunity for the Quakers to prove that what took place last season was an aberration.

When the clock hits 0:00 on Saturday night, Joey Rhoads, Ashley Gray, Monica Naltner, and Lauren Pears will walk off the Palestra floor for good. The four seniors will face a daunting challenge as they play first place Harvard (10-12, 8-1 Ivy) Friday night and second place Dartmouth (13-10, 7-2 Ivy) on Saturday.

Punchless Harvard caused Penn no trouble last night as the Quakers remained on the championship track with an 83-67 win in Boston. A 21-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist night from Mark Zoller paced the Red and Blue, who started out on a 7-0 run and never trailed.

Let's talk about the mid-range jumper. The what? The mid-range jumper. Never heard of it. No? Well, do I have news for you. The so-called lost art has been found and will be on traveling exhibition for the rest of the season at gyms around the Ivy League.

If you think having a men's hockey team in addition to men's basketball would get you a full dose of both sports, you might be surprised. At Dartmouth, which has both, fans don't get to see the best of both worlds. The Quakers will head up to Hanover, N.

At a school like Penn, coming from Michigan isn't anything special. But for a women's lacrosse player, claiming the Great Lake State as home is a rarity. Junior midfielder Allison Ambrozy comes from Grosse Point, Mich. Ambrozy is one of only two players not from the Mid-Atlantic or New England, and the only member of this year's squad from west of the Appalachians.

Though the Penn women's lacrosse 2006 campaign yielded a 10-win season for the first time since 1982, their fourth-place finish in the league left them out of the NCAA Tournament and hungry for revenge.

Michael Jordan had to wear his North Carolina shorts underneath his uniform every time he played. Wade Boggs wouldn't be caught dead in the batter's box without eating chicken before the game. And playoff beard? Try an entire season without a haircut. That's what Mark Zoller did for his past two years playing for Penn.

2007 is a new year - and if Penn can overcome some key losses and Ivy League opposition that is among the best in the nation, this may be the Quakers' year to reach the top.

Last year, perhaps Penn's biggest weakness was zone defenses. This trend, which was largely started by then-Brown and current Quakers coach Glen Miller, continued early in this season. But lately, the Quakers have had some more success against the zone. In their 83-71 win Saturday night over Cornell, Penn had 40 offensive possessions against the Big Red's various zone defenses and scored 34 points.

Jerin Smith could be playing for the Vanderbilt Commodores, the 12th-ranked school in the nation. Or she could have joined Texas A&M;, Texas Tech or Texas, all in the top 50. Erin Power was heavily recruited by her mom's alma mater, Marquette, currently No.

Brian Voelker doesn't expect a lot of his senior captain, David Cornbrooks. Even though the team lost its top three scorers from last year (Cornbrooks was fourth), Voelker, in his fifth year coaching Penn lacrosse, doesn't want him to step up and shoulder the burden.

While the Penn fencing team was back home preparing for this week's Ivy League Round Robin No. 2, several younger members of the team had the opportunity to trek out west to Denver, Colo. and participate in the Junior Olympics. Sophomores Abby Emerson, Ben Wieder, Matthew Kolasa, and freshmen Andrew Bielen and Alexis Baran participated in the competition that ran from Friday to Monday.

After losing 45 percent of its offensive production, the Quakers' lineup will be completely rebuilt when the team takes the field at Villanova on Friday. Attack. Penn has the least experience and depth here and coach Brian Voelker will start a trio of sophomores in Alex Weber, Casey O'Rourke and Craig Andrzejewski.