Molin Zhong

After a lot of tinkering, field hockey coach Val Cloud may have finally found her secret ingredient for success. Last Sunday against Columbia, Penn (3-10, 2-2 Ivy) moved a defender up to play midfielder. With the 3-4-2 scheme, the Red and Blue responded by playing with more cohesion and coming up with a rare victory.

Sun Tzu once said: "Every battle is won before it is fought." Or was it Penn field hockey midfielder Rachel Eng? At least, those are the sentiments she echoed as the Quakers (2-8, 1-2 Ivy) get set to face No. 1 Maryland (11-1) on Sunday at College Park and then No.

A freshman won his flight in the tournament. A transfer defeated a starter on a likely top-20 team. A doubles team sliced through the field.

For Jonathan Boym, the USTA Intercollegiate Competition this weekend is the beginning of his swan song, a final chance to wash away the bitter taste of his junior year campaign. Boym, along with the now-graduated Jason Pinsky, co-captained the Quakers to a 12-11 mark in their 2007-08 season.

Lauren Sadaka understands that for the youngsters on the women's tennis team, it's all about confidence and experience. From these points of view, the Quakers were able to kill two birds with one stone this weekend. But they also showed that they are too green to seriously contend with the big boys of the Ivy League.

What a difference an extra week of preseason makes. With the Ivy League loosening its restrictions on preseason men's soccer practice from seven days to 14 this year, the Quakers appeared confident and ready to embark on their road trip against Marquette and DePaul.

According to women's basketball coach Pat Knapp, the two key ingredients to having a successful season are pride in the program and a desire to win. It should be no surprise, then, that when a position opened up on his staff, he chose former Penn player and two-year American University assistant coach Amanda Kammes to fill it.

Women's tennis meets against the Tigers have always been a little special. "There's a certain rivalry with Princeton," senior Julia Koulbitskaya said. For the four seniors on the team, Saturday's trip up I-95 will be extra special: It will be a chance for them to go out as winners against the Tigers.

Outdoor tennis is a whole different animal than its indoor counterpart. As women's tennis head coach Mike Dowd put it, "You have the elements of wind, sun, and the points are longer. It's a little bit more like a chess match outdoors." After a week-long trip in California in which they lost four of five outdoor matches, Dowd's team is going to get another mouthful of the elements against Marshall (12-4) and No.

It's been a season to forget for the Quakers, but at least some of their final memories at the Palestra will be positive. The Quakers' defense, porous against Yale on Friday, clamped down against Brown on Saturday. After losing 79-70 to the Bulldogs at the Palestra, the Quakers bounced back the next night and beat Brown 56-45.