As the Penn field hockey team prepares for its upcoming game against Yale on Saturday at Franklin Field, you can almost feel the excitement in the air.
The Quakers are psyched. They are ready. And they are certainly confident.
"Losing is not an option," said senior co-captain forward Nikki Battiste. "We are going to win; it's a question of by how many goals."
The fact that the Elis (6-6, 0-3 Ivy League) have lost to Cornell and Dartmouth this season -- two teams that the Quakers beat -- and that they are winless on the road also adds to Penn's confidence.
And who better to use this sense of confidence and momentum against than the Elis, a team with whom the Quakers (4-8 , 2-1) have always been in close competition in the past.
The Red and Blue have lost to Yale by one goal for two years in a row.
Both losses, however, were in New Haven, Conn., where the Elis used a grass surface, a factor that can have a major effect on any game.
"[Playing on] grass has been a disadvantage in the past, so playing at home should be an advantage," Penn junior midfielder Kylee Jakobowski said.
But the type of field will not be the only factor in this game.
If the Quakers are going to win, they will have to stop the playmaking of Elis senior captain Caroline Thompson, who is tied for the team lead in goals with six.
Aside from defending Thompson and the rest of the Elis, the Red and Blue will have to improve their stick-to-stick passing, a skill they focused on this week in practice.
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