When Penn women’s soccer assistant coach Emily Oliver stepped on the soccer field four years ago on December 4th, her objective was clear. It was the finals of 2011 College Cup, the NCAA women’s soccer national championship, and her team, the Stanford Cardinal, was facing Duke.

For fans of Penn volleyball, Tuesday’s tilt against Delaware was the kind of game best watched between your fingers with a cringe on your face. Every match point was a near miss for the Quakers (4-4), and the squad was unable to claw its way after conceding the first two sets to the Blue Hens (5-5) and went on to lose 3-1 despite exceptional offensive play from senior captains Alex Caldwell and Alexis Genske, who carried the attack on the court with 18 and 12 kills, respectively. In the first set, Delaware jumped out to a 10-6 lead early, leaving Penn no chance but to chip away at the deficit point by point.

It's hard for any foray into the topic of "veteran leadership" to hit on something new, but Penn volleyball coach Kerry Carr finds herself with a truly unprecedented embarrassment of riches. Carr, the winningest and longest-tenured coach in program history, has rarely appointed more than two captains during her 18 years at the helm, and never more than three.

Wednesday marks the onset of another week of battle for one of Penn’s premier fall teams, field hockey.

Last year, Penn women’s cross country finished last in the Ivy League. This is an indisputable fact. In their year-end Heptagonal meet, the de facto Ivy championship competition, the Red and Blue only managed to finish eighth in the Ancient Eight. And while any single meet result should be taken with a grain of salt, this sort of result would be the elephant in the room.

The Quakers finally had a chance to play on their home court this weekend. In fact, they had several. Hosting the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia Invitational, Penn volleyball defeated Fairfield in its home opener on Friday night before steamrolling Delaware State Saturday morning to extend its winning streak to four.

The fall season may still be quite young for Penn Athletics, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any surprises. So now, with most Red and Blue teams having gotten their seasons under way, we take the opportunity to talk about the squads that have made us reconsider our preseason expectations.

The first big road trip of the season is always a challenge, and while Penn women’s soccer’s weekend in South Carolina was by no means perfect, the two games the squad played allowed for plenty of causes for optimism. Despite picking up their first loss of the season on Friday night in a 2-1 game against No.

It was a rainy trip to Florida for Penn men’s soccer this weekend, both literally and figuratively. With a two-game slate scheduled in the Sunshine State, the Quakers dropped their opener in disappointing fashion to Florida International, 3-1, on Thursday night.

If you like high-scoring and record-breaking field hockey, then Friday’s match between Penn and St. Joseph’s would have been a great watch.

The Red and Blue finally arrived back home on Friday night, and they brought their winning ways with them. After closing out its season-opening doubleheader with two straight wins last weekend, Penn volleyball defeated Fairfield in its home opener, 3-1, on Friday to extend its winning streak to three contests. The Quakers (3-2) were paced as usual by seniors Alexis Genske, who tallied 15 kills, and Alex Caldwell, who had 12 kills without an error.

Penn field hockey will be back in action for its second weekend of play when the Red and Blue take on intracity opponents St. Joseph’s and Temple on Friday and Sunday.

Off to the races they go. After a brief layoff following the end of track and field season, Penn's cross country teams are eagerly anticipating their season opener at the Big 5 Invitational this Friday.

The old saying goes, two’s company, three’s a crowd, four’s too many. But for coach Fuller and the Quakers, four might be the magical number. Penn has four great options for the goalkeeping position, according to the team, but only time will tell if four is truly too many or a blessing. “I could probably say without hesitation, I’ve been at Penn 18 years and this is probably the deepest goalkeeping crop that I’ve had in my time at Penn,” Fuller said.

With every season comes a set of new faces eager to translate their athletic achievements in high school to the collegiate level.

It wasn’t the ending anyone had hoped for. Three games into the Ivy League season last year, everything was looking up for Penn men’s soccer.

Penn men’s soccer is entering unique territory in the program’s history.  Two years removed from an Ivy League title, gone now are graduated mainstays like Duke Lacroix and Kamar Saint-Louis.