Just four days removed from making Lehigh "look like superstars," senior Dan Cepero and the men's soccer team will face an even stiffer test.

When you think of the few nationally publicized sports at Penn, men's basketball and football are the first ones to come to mind.

No one would ever accuse the Ivy League of being a powerhouse conference in football or basketball. In this day and age, Penn and its counterparts are simply never contenders for a bowl game, let alone a national championship. To many, it is comical that the sports in which the Ivy League tends to excel are ones like squash, fencing, lacrosse and crew.

One team is going to walk out of Franklin Field tomorrow excited and breathing a sigh of relief, while the other will be left with yet another mark in the loss column.

If you're like me, your annual fantasy draft is Christmas in July, but there are probably still some gifts out there to snag in free agency at the beginning of the season.

The Penn women's soccer team hasn't exactly been afforded the chance to ease into its schedule after a short preseason.

With 10 returning players, eight new freshmen and two new assistant coaches, this volleyball season seems to be full of promise. But the team will have to turn things around; Penn went 10-16 (7-7 Ivy) last season, a tough follow-up to 2004, a season in which they went 15-11.

Going into last night's game against Saint Joseph's, the Penn field hockey team has been shut out in both of its matches.

There are 25 freshmen on the Penn football roster. And if the last couple of years are any indication, odds are that only seven will see action in 2006. In a school where freshmen in other sports are often immediate contributors, football players have not had the same impact.

U.S. News & World Report may offer the most-recognized academic rankings for universities, but another group offers a list with a twist- an evaluation of schools that is catered to the student-athlete. Penn is not commonly thought of as an athletic powerhouse, but it ranked 11th in the most recent edition.

Two games into their season, the Penn field hockey team still has yet to get on the scoreboard. The Quakers (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) looked to get off to a good start during opening weekend, but instead they fell to Syracuse 1-0 and then struggled in their second game against Ohio State, losing 4-0, at the Blue Hen Classic hosted by the University of Delaware.

If the Penn women's soccer team's season opener against Rice was going to come down to a battle of the goalies, the Quakers may have looked like clear underdogs. After all, Penn freshman Cailly Carroll had yet to play a collegiate game, while Owls goalkeeper Amy McClintock had three years of college soccer and a full month of the 2006 season under her belt.

On the first day of school (for you suckers who - unlike me - couldn't avoid Wednesday classes), it's fitting to welcome you all to another exciting year of Penn sports. Good to see we're off to a flying start with the three Quakers teams that have started their seasons going a combined 0-3-1.

"It could have been worse." Penn soccer optimists - and senior captain Dan Cepero - were reduced to that phrase after Monday's 2-0 defeat to Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. The game was a rematch from last year's clash at Rhodes Field, which Penn won, 2-1. This time around, the Quakers were never a threat to the Mountainhawks, who outshot Penn 17-6.

After a virtually nonexistent preseason, the women's soccer team salvaged a scoreless draw against a formidable Rice squad in its season opener on Monday. Despite not making it onto the scoresheet, the Quakers performed an impressive opening act. Rice (3-0-1), coming off consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, opened this season with three straight victories - the best start in school history.

Al Bagnoli is trying to answer a difficult question: What could stop his second-ranked Quakers from reclaiming the Ivy League football title? He got some of the answers Friday during a scrimmage against Division III Widener, which visited Franklin Field for the third straight year for a preseason game.

Despite an 0-2 start to their season, Nyssa Liebermann and the Penn field hockey team have already proven to themselves that they can compete with whatever opponent they play. Now, faced with a matchup against Saint Joseph's tonight, they have another chance to prove it on the field.