Upon arriving in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend, the womens' volleyball team met southern hospitality with a special song mix entitled "The Dixie Chick Quakers Come to UNC," made by parents of team members. Despite the warm welcome, the Quakers fell in all three tournament matches.

In a two-day tournament that consisted of 578 team shots, only two strokes stood in the way of a Quakers win. The Penn men's golf team took second place at this weekend's Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md. The team score of 10-over par tied them with Winthrop as Loyola (Md.

It's one of those sports cliches that makes journalists cringe and editors pull their hair out. It's a go-to word for coaches and players in post-game interviews and a vaguely-defined cure-all for any team's ills. And it's exactly the word that Penn senior captain Tracy Bienenfeld used to describe the key to the women's soccer team's victory over Richmond yesterday: "Heart.

By Krista Hutz The Daily Pennsylvanian Penn field hockey coach Val Cloud expected sophomore transfer Margaretha Ehret to make an immediate impact for her team. And with one goal she did just that. Ehret scored the Red and Blue's first goal of the season and her first in a Quakers uniform, in Penn's 2-0 win over Harvard (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) on Saturday.

Entering this weekend's Penn Invitational, the women's soccer team was one of the many Quakers squads that had yet to score a goal, much less win a game. But after all was said and done, Penn had accomplished both of those things as part of an Ivy sweep of the Penn Invitational.

By Josh Wheeling The Daily Pennsylvanian Despite facing nearly 20 teams each in the men's and women's Fordham Invitationals on Saturday, the women's cross country team won the event, while the men came in second behind Navy. No Penn runner finished with a top three time in either race, but depth carried the Quakers to two high finishes.

What a difference a week makes. After a disappointing loss on opening weekend, the men's soccer team held on to beat Hartwick, 2-1, and then blew out Marist 4-0 to capture the Mayor's Cup in Oneonta, N.Y. Towson's 3-2 loss to Hartwick clinched the tournament for Penn, which will now have its name on college soccer's oldest trophy.

Penn basketball freshman forward Justin Reilly was a senior in high school when coaches from around the country started contacting him to play for their universities and sending him messages frequently - on his cell phone.

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.