W. Soccer brings in another group of talented recruits

The Penn women's soccer team will use the help of its 10 new recruits to pick up where they left off last season.

The Quakers captured the program's first-ever Ivy League title (tri-champions with Dartmouth and Princeton) in 2001, ending the season with an overall record of 13-2-3.

The Red and Blue will welcome nine freshmen and one transfer to Rhodes' Field this fall.

Third-year head coach Darren Ambrose will take advantage of the diversity this year's recruiting class will bring to the team.

"Each player brings something unique and different to the field," he said.

Penn's new faces garnered awards even before they arrived on campus. Soccerbuzz.com ranked the Quakers' Class of 2006 No. 24 in the country and No. 6 in the region.

"We have a couple of players that will make an immediate impact," Ambrose said. "Across the board, however, there have been a few surprises. A few kids have stepped up in the past few days and shown they are ready to play."

The new players will have to be ready if they hope to break into the starting line-up.

The Quakers return almost all of last year's Ivy-League Championship team, losing only two players to graduation.

The biggest shake-up will take place in the Red and Blue's backline.

"We will spend a lot of our time over the next few days concentrating on solidifying our backline," Ambrose said. "That's where we lost the most from last year."

Five players will look to sure up the Penn defense as they enter pre-season. Freshmen Jennifer Price, Elizabeth Ivester, Lizzy Peterson, Robin Watson and Priya Naik, could all help to fill the void left by last year's seniors, Sarah Campbell and Sabrina Fenton. The team's starting goalkeeper position will be highly contested this fall.

Ambrose will be able to choose from three goalkeepers to anchor his defense.

In addition to returning starter and honorable-mention All-Ivy Vanessa Scotto and sophomore Anna Halse-Stumberg, freshman Monica Silvestre will be vying for time between the posts. Silvestre (Miami, Fla.) was a two-year member of the national team and the Florida Coaches Association Player of the Year.

"Goalkeeping is going to be an interesting situation," Ambrose said. "Any one of the three could start."

Fierce competition will also be seen in the Quakers' midfield. Freshmen Jenna Linden and Meg Pittman along with Lydia Bojcun, a sophomore transfer from N.C. State, will all look to add a spark to Penn's midfield.

"Jenna is a very quick and skillful player," Ambrose said. "Lydia is incredibly athletic and possesses tremendous vision. She played a different position at N.C. State, and we will mold her into our system."

Carolyn Cross (Williamsburg, Va.) will be the only addition to Penn's already potent forward line. Cross will join All-American and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Katy Cross, as well as sophomore first team Mid-Atlantic Region forward Rachelle Snyder.

This year's recruiting class will bring more depth to a young team. While the Quakers have high expectations for the upcoming season, they do not want to look too far ahead.

"We will take each game one at a time," Ambrose said. "After we play Columbia and Princeton in the upcoming exhibition we will turn our sights towards Richmond."

Penn will open their season September 6 when they take on the University of Richmond at the James Madison University Comfort Inn Invitational. The Quakers will then take on host, JMU, on Sunday afternoon.

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