The No. 1 seeded Penn Quakers (20-7, 13-1 Ivy) will fight this weekend for a bid to the NCAA Tournament at the Ivy League’s inaugural postseason tournament. Only the top four teams made it this far, and according to Penn coach Mike McLaughlin, anyone can win it.

After a dominant Ivy League campaign, nobody should be surprised that Penn women's basketball scored big when Ivy League year-end awards were announced. Junior forward Michelle Nwokedi (Ivy League Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy), senior center Sydney Stipanovich and junior guard Anna Ross (Second Team All-Ivy) and coach Mike McLaughlin (Ivy League Coach of the Year) were big winners when the awards were handed out on Thursday, just as they have been all season with the 13-1 Quakers, who enter the Ivy League Tournament as the top seed. 

One night after securing a share of the Ivy title, Penn women's basketball defeated Harvard 64-46 to take the title outright and secure the top seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. This is the first time in program history that the Quakers (19-7, 12-1 Ivy) captured back-to-back Ivy titles.

The Quakers will open their 2017 season with an action-packed trip down to the Sunshine State. This will be the team’s first chance to generate some positive momentum after a disappointing 2016. More importantly, it will be a major measuring stick for the team and a precious opportunity to gauge the makeup of the team before the games start to count in the Ivy League standings.

For Penn women’s lacrosse, Spring Break doesn’t necessarily live up to its name. Instead of lying on a couch or dancing at a concert, the Quakers (3-0) will forgo their break and enter a tough stretch of three games in eight days.

Over spring break, Penn men’s and women’s tennis will have their hands full as they make their annual road trips in search of competition and warmer climates. This year, the men’s team (7-5) will take its talents to Louisiana for a span of three days from March 8-10. Just a week after Mardi Gras festivities, the Quakers make the trip south where they will play a slate of four teams over the course of three days.

With the Ivy Tournament looming in just a week, the Quakers is set to take their final Ivy road trip of the season. The Quakers (17-7, 10-1 Ivy) will travel to Dartmouth to take on the Big Green (7-18, 2-10) on Friday, then to Cambridge, Mass. to take on Harvard (20-5, 8-4) the next day.

She’s easy-going. She’s the calm in the middle of the storm. She hosts Bachelor watch parties on Monday nights. She’s also one of the three greatest players in Penn women’s basketball history. 

It was a huge weekend for some of Penn Athletics' brightest stars, as four student-athletes donning the Red and Blue took home Ivy League Player of the Week awards.

It was a busy weekend for the Penn men’s and women’s tennis teams with both teams splitting a pair of matches. The women’s squad played their first match of the weekend on the road in College Park to take on the No. 42 ranked Terrapins, falling 6-1.

The Temple Invitational was held on Sunday and Penn men’s and women’s fencing both finished the competition with a winning record. The Temple Invitational is a key point in the fencing season as it is the last match play before NCAA regionals. Gaining momentum going into the final stretch of the season is crucial, and both the women’s and men’s teams left the invitation with some impressive wins.

Penn track and field teams boasted record-breaking times and history-making performances this weekend at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships in New York City. On the women’s side, the Red and Blue earned a total of 13 podium performances to finish second overall. The Penn men weren’t able to find the remarkable success that their female counterparts had, but some epic individual performances exemplified their drive to rank themselves among the very best.

While athletes from women’s basketball, gymnastics, and wrestling have already gotten the MVP nod during the winter season, spring is coming, and so are the stars of spring sports. With that in mind, we turn to women’s lacrosse and Alex Condon as this week’s recipient of the Penn Athletics Weekend MVP award. The junior midfielder tallied eight goals in no. 10 Penn’s impressive 10-7 victory over no. 18 John’s Hopkins.

After giving up a first half lead, the tenth-ranked Quakers (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) defeated the No. 18 Blue Jays (3-1) by a score of 10-7, powered by eight goals – yes, eight – from junior midfielder Alex Condon. Condon’s goal tally, which was a career high for her and one away from both the Penn and Ivy League record books, brings her season goal total to ten over just two games.

With No. 2 Penn women’s squash facing No. 1 Harvard in the Collegiate Squash Association national championship for the second straight season after losing a brutal 5-4 decision a year ago, the narrative was almost writing itself: Heartbreak pushes team to success. Underdog upsets favorite. Former loser gets all-too-sweet revenge. But unfortunately, in sports, the Hollywood story doesn’t always hold.

Penn women's basketball had a test this weekend: rebound after a disappointing loss to Yale. And how did it do? Exceptionally well.

The work Penn women's basketball has put in and its dominance over the course of the season should be rewarded with both the Ivy League championship and a chance to make waves on a national level. A collapse in the final stages of the season would be heartbreaking. One title without the other would be a hollow victory. It would be a shame if the conference’s best team didn’t represent it on the biggest stage.