It certainly wasn't clean or pretty, but as far as the men's soccer team was concerned, it worked.

Pennsylvania has given $3.5 million to an organization that includes Penn for nanotechnology research. The grant is part of $11.1 million given to various institutions across the state for research in nanotechnology, the creation and study of devices between 1 and 100 nanometers in size.

With high expectations and team support, the women's tennis team fought with fire this weekend during the 14th annual William & Mary Invitational in Virginia. The matches took place on Friday and Saturday in individual tournament format, and no team scores were kept.

What a weekend for Jessica Fuccello. The freshman forward notched two game-winners over the weekend when the Quakers traveled to play UNC-Greensboro and East Carolina. The two wins kept the Quakers' undefeated season alive, moving them to 4-0-1 overall. "I was kind of on a streak of non-scoring," Fuccello said.

Scotty Williams' strength was gone. After playing his freshman season way back in 2001, a Mormon mission in Quebec took away 35 pounds from his body and two years of his physical prime.

It wasn't long ago that the corner of 40th and Walnut street was dead at night. Where people from Penn and all over Philadelphia now eat dinner at Marathon Grill, there was an ugly Burger King.

Sept. 16 @ Lafayette 1:00 Sept. 23 Villanova 7:00, CN8 Sept. 30 Dartmouth 1:00 Oct. 7 @ Bucknell 1:00 Oct. 14 Columbia 1:00 Oct. 21 @ Yale 12:30, CN8 Oct. 28 Brown 12:00, CSTV Nov. 4 @ Princeton 1:00, CN8 Nov. 11 Harvard 1:00, CN8 Nov. 18 @ Cornell 1:00

Penn may have slipped to 7th in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, but the University's perfect "gay point average" places it at the top of an altogether different list.

After six years of failed tries and much debate, Philadelphia has a smoking ban. Mayor John Street signed a bill yesterday that will prohibit smoking in almost all public places in the city. The ban goes into effect immediately and provides exemptions to a few sets of establishments.

Coach Al Bagnoli has a problem. But it's the kind of problem that coaches love to have.

Pennsylvania got a failing mark for the affordability of its colleges earlier this month, according to an annual "report card" by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonpartisan think tank based in San Jose, Calif.

The Penn tennis teams won the Ivy title and finished second last year, but that wasn't enough.

There's a little extra riding on the Penn-Cornell field hockey game for Quakers goalie Liz Schlossberg.

Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania's Bill Herman suggests ("A Year Later, NYU TAs Back in Class," DP, 9/12/06) that the reason his group hasn't repeated strike action since the two-day protest in spring 2004 is because "things are pretty stable here right now."

Penn has been ranked second in the nation among 25 "Best Neighbor" urban schools recognized for their contributions to their local communities. Created by New England Board of Higher Education president Evan Dobelle, the rankings take into account the length of involvement with the community, the amount of money invested, faculty and students in community service, K-12 school partnerships and resources donated by alumni, among other categories.

If a season simulation on "Dynasty Mode" of EA Sports' NCAA Football 2007 is in any way a harbinger for Penn's upcoming season, then the Quakers are in deep trouble.

As senior wide receiver Matt Carre prepares to take the field for the Quakers' season opener tomorrow, he will be focused on helping his team reverse the downward spiral of last season.