The men's lacrosse team has a chance this year to spoil Big Red's party

The Columbia women's lacrosse team may just be a pebble in the Quakers' shoe. And Saturday's game against the Lions is a small obstacle in Penn's campaign for its first Ivy title since 1982. Though the Lions (3-5) have not proven to be much of an opponent in the past, the Quakers are still starting their usual lineup.

For rowers who have been cramped inside on the ergometer all winter, the start of the season brings a welcome reality check. Both the heavy and lightweight men's crew teams will be competing in their first events of the spring season this weekend at home and at Rutgers, respectively.

The coaches who recruited them have left, but for three Ivy League recruits, none of that matters. Dan Mavraides and Bobby Foley will still be playing basketball for Princeton despite coach Joe Scott leaving for Denver, and Adam Demuyakor remains committed to Harvard after coach Frank Sullivan was let go after 15 years on March 5.

When Penn opens up conference play Saturday afternoon in Princeton, N.J., the defending co-Ivy League champs have something to prove. In the latest collegiate men's tennis rankings, three Ivy League teams are ranked in the top 75. With a 7-4 record (2-4 against ranked opponents), Princeton sits at No.

Off to its best start in a very long time, the Penn softball team isn't letting two losses to Lehigh get it down. "Our focus has always been on league play so we're not dwelling on the games from Tuesday," head coach Leslie King said. "We're really excited for this weekend.

The two sure signs of spring have arrived on campus. Not red robins and baseball, but that horse-farm smell on Locust Walk and students participating in the annual game of real-or-fake known as "Name That Tan." And it's always been my opinion that while football and basketball seasons get all the glory, there's no better time for a sports enthusiast than April.

Trinity College's squash team may have a nine-year-long winning streak on the court, but it's had to fight a harder battle off of it.

Defense reversed history last night. The Penn women's lacrosse team had never won a game in five tries against Johns Hopkins. But that changed in a hurry when the No. 14 Quakers thrashed the No. 12 Blue Jays 12-4 in Baltimore. "This was our biggest win of the year," coach Karin Brower said.

After so much success on the court, the seniors of this year's Ivy champion basketball team now find themselves headed in different directions.

In 1986, the three-point line was implemented nationally for men's basketball. It was meant to be a long shot, but has become a chip shot. Now, many want to see its original intention returned. Cornell coach Steve Donahue would like to see the three-point line moved back when all of the men's basketball coaches meet in Atlanta for the Final Four this weekend.

Now the hard part begins. After cruising through its first seven games with only a single hitch - a road loss to Northwestern - the Penn women's lacrosse team will begin the most difficult part of its schedule tonight when it travels to Baltimore to face dangerous No.

In four straight games before yesterday, Penn's relievers had conceded nine runs in 10 and two-thirds innings. So Quakers coach John Cole was probably not a pillar of confidence as he watched his starting pitcher concede a walk, a single, and a three-run homer to the first three Saint Joseph's hitters he faced yesterday.

Here's a revelation: It gets cold in Philadelphia over the winter. No, not Hanover, N.H. cold or Ithaca, N.Y. cold, but it can be pretty nippy out there. So when the weather heads south of the freezing point, athletic practices move indoors. This is where Penn's athletes get the short end, since the school lacks appropriate indoor facilities.

Jarron Smith just needed a little tweak. The junior starts about every other game, but with a three-for-four day in Penn's 11-5 win over Saint Joseph's in the opening round of the Liberty Bell Classic, he has made his case for a full-time spot out in right field.

The Penn softball team had dug itself into a little hole during the second game of its 7-2 and 8-6 doubleheader losses to Lehigh. Unable to chip away at a 5-1 third-inning deficit in the second game, the Quakers (12-8) badly needed an offensive spark. The bases were loaded as senior Kaelin Ainley stepped to the plate after a Teresa Leyden single up the middle, an error by Lehigh pitcher Tiffany Curtis left Stephanie Reichert safe on first and Julia Cheney walked.

The Quakers open the single-elimination tournament sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies with a home game against Saint Joseph's.